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Turkey

Turkey

May 12, 2026

Ankara 5:21 pm

23°C

Turkish Red Crescent's cars and trucks cross the Turkish border as they leave the Syrian city of Tel Abyad on Oct. 19, 2019, in Akcakale, Turkey.

Turkey's border reopening unlocks new sphere of influence in Syria

Turkey reopened the Akcakale-Tell Abyad crossing on Monday, ending an 11-year closure along the Syria border.

ISTANBUL, TURKEY - MAY 06: A man poses for a photograph in front of the newly unveiled, Turkish made intercontinental ballistic missile Yildirimhan at the SAHA International Defence and Aerospace Expo on May 06, 2026 in Istanbul, Turkey. The International Defence and Aerospace Exhibition, showcased Turkish and foreign companies new products and technology. The expo was dominated by UAV products as modern warfare increasingly shifts to drone and unmanned technologies. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

Analysis

From drones to deterrence: Turkey's ICBM missile signals bigger ambitions

Turkey’s planned test of a 6,000-kilometer missile could boost Ankara’s defense industry prestige, strengthen its deterrence messaging and feed a powerful domestic narrative of technological self-reliance, but it also raises questions about cost, timing and NATO protection.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

MURAT KOCABAS/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

Culture

How ‘dog mom’ vacuum cleaner ad sparked culture war in Turkey

A Mother’s Day advertisement featuring a “dog mom” triggered a backlash from conservative media, government officials and regulators, turning a soft consumer campaign into a flashpoint over motherhood, declining birth rates, stray dogs and even antisemitism.

Latest News

Turkey, Japan launch defense industry partnership with eye on drones

People look at a drone on display at the Baykar exhibit at the SAHA International Defence and Aerospace Expo on May 06, 2026 in Istanbul, Turkey.

Samuel Wendel

Senior Market Research Analyst

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Amberin Zaman

Chief Correspondent

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Jack Dutton

Chief Business Correspondent

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

Ezgi Akin

Associate Editor (Turkey)

In Ankara, reporting on diplomacy, EU-Turkey ties, NATO

Francesco Schiavi

In Bologna, reporting on security, defense, economy, governance

Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani (L) walks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C) during an official welcoming ceremony following the latter's arrival at the Saadabad Palace in Tehran on April 7, 2015, for an official one-day visit as the two countries criticized each other in recent weeks on their respective policies in the region. AFP PHOTO/ATTA KENARE (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images)

How will Turkey benefit from lifting of Iran sanctions?

Turkey faced substantial losses with declining exports to Iran because of the embargo. Now that easing of sanctions is a possibility, however, political ambitions and contradictory positions may impede recovery.

People attend a religious service marking the anniversary of mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1915, at an Armenian church in Tbilisi April 24 2012. Armenia, backed by many historians and parliaments, says about 1.5 million Christian Armenians were killed in what is now eastern Turkey during World War One in a deliberate policy of genocide ordered by the Ottoman government. Successive Turkish governments and the vast majority of Turks feel the charge of genocide is an insult to their natio

What was behind the ethnic cleansing of Armenians?

If Turkish society would develop a more emphatic view of the ethnic cleansing of Armenians, this will happen not due to any foreign pressure, but rather due to some honest self-criticism based on authentic values — such as those presented by Islam.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani (R) holds hands with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C) as they walk during an official welcoming ceremony following the latter's arrival at the Saadabad Palace in Tehran on April 7, 2015, for an official one-day visit as the two countries criticized each other in recent weeks on their respective policies in the region. AFP PHOTO/ATTA KENARE (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images)

Erdogan focuses on trade during Iran visit

Despite a red-carpet welcome to Tehran, where meetings between the Turkish president and Iranian officials focused on economic ties, the uproar around Recep Tayyip Erdogan's incendiary remarks about Iran continued unabated.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani shakes hands with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan after a news conference in Ankara June 9, 2014. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3SXID

Turkey reluctantly welcomes Iran deal

Observers say Iran deal will increase Tehran’s regional influence at a time when Ankara’s influence has waned.

Hungry bears threaten Turkey's villages

Starving bears have been ravaging cemeteries in Turkey, digging up and devouring the dead and forcing villagers to place barbed wire around tombs.

Relatives of detained military officers hold a portrait of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of modern Turkey, and shout slogans in front of a courthouse in Ankara October 9, 2013. Turkey's appeals court upheld convictions on Wednesday of top retired military officers for leading a plot to overthrow Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government a decade ago in a case underlining civilian dominance over a once all-powerful army. The court overturned convictions of dozens of less prominent defendants among more th

Turkish justice 'sledgehammered'

The Sledgehammer coup case, which has ended with the acquittal of all defendants, inflicted enormous damage on Turkey’s justice system, judiciary and military, while failing to eliminate the danger of military coups.

Ankara - TURKEY, 03-15-2015: Hayko Cepkin on stage during a concert.(Photo © 2015 Piero Castellano)

Armenian singer Hayko Cepkin climbs to fame in Turkey

The generation growing up in the “New Turkey” has found in a Turkish Armenian rock musician the minstrel of their existential malaise.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (L), U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz (2nd L), the head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization Ali Akbar Salehi (2nd R) and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif (R) wait with others for a meeting at the Beau Rivage Palace Hotel March 28, 2015, in Lausanne. Iran and major powers are close to agreement on a 2- or 3-page accord with specific numbers that would form the basis of a long-term settlement aimed at ending a 12-year standoff over Tehran's nuclear ambitions,

Iran framework agreement should boost regional diplomacy

The P5+1 and Iran agree on "detailed political agreement" for nuclear deal; Saudi Arabia, Iran hasten Yemen’s collapse; Netanyahu, Erdogan weigh in on Yemen.

Turkish riot police detain a protester outside the Justice Palace in Istanbul March 31, 2015. A far-left Turkish group took an Istanbul prosecutor hostage on Tuesday and threatened to kill him, prompting special forces to enter the courthouse and police to evacuate the building. REUTERS/Osman Orsal - RTR4VM35

Media pressure increases after prosecutor's killing

A government investigation is opened into Turkish newspapers that published photos that kidnappers released of a prosecutor who was later killed.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his wife Emine Erdogan arrive to a wreath-laying ceremony at the Ninos Heroes monument at Chapultepec Park in Mexico City February 12, 2015. Erdogan is in Mexico for an official visit. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido (MEXICO - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR4PCQH

The Erdogans' lavish lifestyle

Attempts to alter the image of lavish spending at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s palace backfired when the unprecedented high price of the white tea consumed at the palace was revealed.

A girl holds a Turkish flag as army officers and their families visit the Anitkabir, mausoleum of the Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, on Martyrs' Day in Ankara March 18, 2007. Ataturk is the revered founder of modern Turkey and the republic's first head of state. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (Turkey) - RTR1NN7T

Turkish military calls off war on headscarves, beards

Following a landmark court ruling, Turkey's military leaders have eased the strict rules governing the appearance of civilians entering military bases and other areas.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan attend a news conference in Ankara June 9, 2014. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3SXIL

Erdogan takes swipe at Iran

Observers are wondering why Erdogan is trying to drag Turkey into the region’s growing sectarian conflict.