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Turkey

Turkey

May 13, 2026

Ankara 4:00 am

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The helicopter of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lands on Abdulhamid Han drill ship, the fourth built by Turkey, in Mersin on Aug. 9, 2022, before being sent for gas exploration to an undisputed area in the Mediterranean Sea, south of Gazipasa.

New Turkey maritime draft bill fuels EastMed tensions with Greece, Cyprus

Turkey’s draft maritime bill seeks to formalize Ankara’s claims in the Aegean, Eastern Mediterranean and Black seas, raising tensions with Greece and Cyprus over contested maritime boundaries and offshore energy rights.

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

Latest News

Culture

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

MURAT KOCABAS/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

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

Human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin Clooney arrives to attend a hearing at the European court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, January 28, 2015. Clooney and her colleague Robertson will represent Armenia during a hearing on the case of Dogu Perincek, Chairman of the Turkish Workers Party, against Switzerland. Perincek was found guilty of racial discrimination by a Swiss Police Court for having publicly denied the characterisation of genocide, without calling into question the existence of massacres and deporta

Amal Clooney attracts attention at Armenian genocide trial

The case before the European Court of Human Rights concerns the right of Dogu Perincek, the leader of the Turkish Workers Party, to deny that Armenians had suffered a genocide.

Turkey’s Central Bank caves on interest rates

Under fire from the government and the president, Turkey’s Central Bank has abandoned its cautious approach and moved to lower interest rates.

Demonstrators hold placards with some featuring a picture of Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan during a protest against internet censorship in Istanbul May 15, 2011. Thousands of people marched in central Istanbul to protest against the government's plan to filter the internet. REUTERS/Murad Sezer (TURKEY - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS) TEMPLATE OUT - RTR2MG6Y

Why is Turkey censoring lingerie, antique books?

Turkey's Web watchdog is turning into a "wicked" censorship monster that can arbitrarily target any website, from global prosperity indexes to LGBT forums.

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan (L) receives a gift from Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (R) after addressing a joint news conference in Somalia's capital Mogadishu January 25, 2015. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan travelled to the Somali capital Mogadishu under heavy security on Sunday, making his second visit in four years to promise further investment in the country as it struggles to rebuild after two decades of conflict. REUTERS/Feisal Omar (SOMALIA - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR4MTPA

Erdogan's Africa tour

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose aspirations for regional leadership have failed, has begun trying to acquire leadership of the Islamic world on his Africa tour.

People gather to celebrate in the Kurdish-dominated city of Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey, after Kurdish forces said they took full control of the Syrian town of Kobani, January 27, 2015. Kurdish forces battled Islamic State fighters outside Kobani on Tuesday, a monitoring group said, a day after Kurds said they took full control of the northern Syrian town following a four-month battle. REUTERS/Sertac Kayar (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTR4N6SW

Kurdish victory in Kobani defeat for Turkish policy

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has expressly ruled out the northern Iraq model for Syria's Kurds.

Employees work at the assembly line of a Karsan automotive factory in Bursa February 17, 2011. Turkish automotive company Karsan began production after it signed a strategic partnership deal with Italian bus builder BredaMenarinibus to manufacture Italian company's buses in its Akcalar plant in Bursa. REUTERS/Murad Sezer (TURKEYTRANSPORT - Tags: TRANSPORT BUSINESS) - RTR2IPVU

Turkey foreign investment slowdown

Dutch entrepreneurs topped the list of foreign investors in Turkey in 2014, as the number of foreign companies exceeded 41,000, despite the insecure climate that has emerged in Turkey in terms of democracy and the rule of law.

A CH-47 Chinook helicopter from the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade lands to pick up U.S. soldiers from the 3rd Cavalry Regiment after an advising mission at the Afghan National Army headquarters for the 203rd Corps in the Paktia province of Afghanistan December 21, 2014. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS MILITARY TRANSPORT) - RTR4IUN7

Turkey’s arms procurement raises questions

There are questions being raised about the wisdom of Turkey's expensive defense expenditures — but not by the public.

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal (L) meets with Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara March 17, 2011. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS ROYALS) - RTR2K0M9

Erdogan's Saudi dilemma

Experts say Ankara will maintain cordial, if not warm, ties with Riyadh, disregarding deep differences over Egypt and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Alexis Tsipras, Syriza party leader and winner of the Greek parliamentary elections, signs papers appointing him as Greece's first leftist prime minister after his swearing-in ceremony at the presidential palace in Athens January 26, 2015. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis (GREECE - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTR4MZDP

Turkey’s leftists, Kurds celebrate Syriza victory

The election victory of Greece's leftist Syriza party was cause for celebration among Turkey's Kurds and its marginalized left wing, both of which are seeking more electoral power.

Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen is pictured at his residence in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania September 24, 2013. Born in Erzurum, eastern Turkey, Gulen built up his reputation as a Muslim preacher with intense sermons that often moved him to tears. From his base in Izmir, he toured Turkey stressing the need to embrace scientific progress, shun radicalism and build bridges to the West and other faiths. The first Gulen school opened in 1982. In the following decades, the movement became a spectacular success, s

War on Gulenists undermines Turkish diplomacy

Ankara has canceled the authorization of 51 honorary consuls as part of its war on the Gulen movement while President Recep Tayyip Erdogan presses African governments to shut down Gulenist-founded schools.

TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY PHILIPPE ALFROY
Priest Gabriel Aktas poses in Kirklar, a Syriac church in Mardin, south-eastern Turkey, on November 17, 2014. The Christian Assyrian community in Turkey, which now numbers no more than a several thousand, has been hit by wave after wave of immigration even since the foundation the modern Turkish state in 1923 out of the ruins of the multi-ethnic Ottoman Empire. But hope has not been lost that a future presence can be continued and memory of the past retained, with som

Eyeing political gains, Kurds and Syriacs aim to mend old wounds

At the grass-roots level, the alliance between Kurds and the Syriac community has led to bitter divisions.

Somali government soldiers and African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) peacekeepers secure the scene of a suicide car explosion in front of the SYL hotel in the capital Mogadishu January 22, 2015. The Somali Islamist group al Shabaab claimed responsibility for a bomb attack at the gate of the hotel where Turkish delegates were meeting on Thursday, a day ahead of a visit by their president, Tayyip Erdogan, to the Somali capital. REUTERS/Feisal Omar (SOMALIA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS CRIME LAW MILITARY)

Why Erdogan’s media sees British conspiracy in Somalia

The delusional, conspiratorial narrative in Turkey’s pro-AKP media raises questions about the capacity of the ruling elites of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's "New Turkey" to understand the world as it really is.