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Turkey

Turkey

May 13, 2026

Ankara 2:09 pm

22°C

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

How a German doctor became a PKK hero

"Dr. Medya," a physician from Hamburg, talks about her more than 20 years in the Kurdistan Workers Party in a rare interview.

Kemal Kilicdaroglu (2nd L), leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), releases a dove during an election rally in Adana, southern Turkey, March 27, 2014. Turkey's main opposition party has barely dented support for Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan despite months of anti-government protests, an investigation into government graft and hours of incriminating conversations leaked online. Kemal Kilicdaroglu, head of the Republican People's Party (CHP), at campaign rallies in more than 70 cities

Will CHP face its dark past?

For the Republican People’s Party (CHP) to become a real alternative to the Justice and Development Party (AKP), its leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, should start an honest dialogue about the party’s past.

Members of trade unions chant slogans against Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan as they march at Taksim Square in Istanbul June 5, 2013. Turkish trade unionists marched into an Istanbul square on Wednesday, joining unprecedented protests against Erdogan over what they see as his authoritarian rule. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis (TURKEY - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS BUSINESS EMPLOYMENT) - RTX10CIK

New Turkish law deals blow to unions

Turkey's unionized workforce has dropped from 57.5% to 9.6% over the past decade, with Ankara offering weak solutions to the problem, including a hotline where workers can report their bosses.

Iraq's Kurdistan Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani (R) speaks with Turkey's Energy Minister Taner Yildiz (L) at the Iraq-Kurdistan Oil and Gas Conference at Arbil in Iraq's Kurdistan region, December 2, 2013. Turkey said on Monday it stood by a bilateral oil deal with Iraq's Kurdistan region that bypassed central government but wanted to win Baghdad's support by drawing it into the arrangement. Reuters reported that Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan signed a multi-billion-dollar energy package last week, infuriatin

Turkey's Kurdish client state

Turkey has tremendous financial and security influence over the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, exposing Erbil to economic and political vulnerabilities.

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Politics strain Turkey's first Kurdish-language institute

Turkey’s first Kurdish-language institute has been torn between the government and the Kurdish movement, while attracting scholars from all four parts of Kurdistan.

Activists hold pictures of Armenian victims during a demonstration to commemorate the 1915 mass killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, in Istanbul April 24, 2014. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan offered on Wednesday what the government said were unprecedented condolences to the grandchildren of Armenians killed in World War One by Ottoman soldiers. In a statement issued on the eve of the 99th anniversary of the deeply contested deaths, Erdogan unexpectedly described the events of 1915 as "inhuman

Armenians dig out their Ottoman land deeds

Armenians might count on Ottoman title deeds, preserved and passed down to generations for 100 years, to claim their abandoned properties next year.

The Fener Greek highschool with the Mosque of Yavuz Selim in the background overlooks the Fener district in Golden Horn where the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate complex is located in Istanbul November 21, 2006. Pope Benedict will pay an official visit to Muslim but secular Turkey on November 28 to December 1 and will hold talks with Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual head of the world's Orthodox Christians, at the Patriarch's residence in Istanbul. REUTERS/Fatih Saribas (TURKEY) - RTR1JKES

Pope's visit to Turkey is a chance to bridge ancient divide

Pope Francis’ visit to Turkey on Nov. 28-30 is not really about Turkey, instead it offers new opportunities to mend the schism with the Orthodox Church.

Turkey's Prime Minister and leader of ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Tayyip Erdogan (R) and his guest, Egypt's President Mohamed Mursi greet the audience during the AKP congress in Ankara September 30, 2012. REUTERS/Murad Sezer (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR38LZD

Outsized ambitions leave Turkey with hefty bill

Turkey is isolated not just by its neighbors but also by nations further afield.

An Islamic State flag is seen atop a building in eastern Kobani, as seen from the Turkish border crossing of Mursitpinar as Kurdish Peshmerga forces fight against Islamic state fighters, November 1, 2014. Iraqi Kurdish forces arrived in the Syrian town of Kobani with heavy weapons to help Syrian Kurds fend off attempts by Islamic State insurgents to seize the town and cement control in the Turkish border region. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis (TURKEY - Tags: MILITARY CONFLICT POLITICS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR

Turks increasingly sympathetic to Islamic State

The Islamic State's declaration of a caliphate has generated conflicting views in Turkey.

Customers use an ATM machine at a branch of Bank Asya in Ankara August 12, 2014. Turkish Islamic lender Bank Asya said its second-quarter net profit fell 81 percent to 10.6 million lira ($4.9 million) as its deposit base shrank and lending wilted under pressure from the government. The lender has seen its profits and capital base collapse since December when it found itself at the centre of a power struggle between Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and his political foe Fethullah Gulen, an Islamic cleric whose

Stocks plummet as Turkey names Gulenists top security issue

Following the decision to add the Gulenist "parallel state" to its Red Book of national security priorities, companies with ties to the Gulen movement have suffered huge stock market losses.

Syrians wait to cross back into Syria at the Turkish Cilvegozu border, opposite the Syrian commercial crossing point Bab al-Hawa, in Reyhanli, Hatay province, May 14, 2013. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTXZLW2

Turkey's border security problem

Political factors are not the only cause of Turkey’s border security vulnerability.

A Free Syrian Army fighter carries his weapon as he stands in front of graffiti that reads "Daesh (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ) down" at Masaken Hanano neighborhood in Aleppo January 7, 2014. Five days of heavy rebel infighting has shaken the ISIL, which lost its main base in the northern city of Aleppo to rival rebels on Wednesday, according to a monitoring group. Picture taken January 7, 2014. REUTERS/Jalal Alhalabi (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT MILITARY) - RTX1767F

Decrypting Erdogan's 'Daesh' stumbles

Why did President Recep Tayyip Erdogan begin using an incorrect Arabic acronym, Deash, in referring to the Islamic State immediately after his meeting with French President François Hollande?