Turkey - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Turkey

Turkey

September 6, 2026

Ankara 11:07 am

25°C

TAI Hurjet

Analysis

With Hurjet test, Turkey seeks defense dominance beyond drones

With export revenue from the supersonic crewed aircraft, Ankara plans to fund next-generation projects and gain strategic diplomatic and military leverage across NATO and the region.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Ibrahim Kalin, Turkish presidential spokesperson, gives a press conference at the Presidential Complex, Ankara, May 25, 2022.

Turkey and Greece's intelligence chiefs hold rare talks: What to know

The meeting comes after Turkey recently warned Greece over what it called an arms race in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

US sanctions Turkey-based bank over Iran ties

The Treasury Department said Golden Global Bank was facilitating transactions for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Mecca Alliance

Israel, Greece sign $3.5 billion air-defense deal: What to know

Against the backdrop of growing tensions with Turkey, Israel signed one of its largest-ever defense industry deals to supply Greece with advanced air defense systems.

Latest News

Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan set Mecca Alliance into motion

Mecca Alliance

Analysis

Why Turkey welcomes Israel-Syria talks despite mounting red lines

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrive for a joint press conference following their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Feb. 4, 2025.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Culture

In divided Cyprus, FC Barcelona youth camp sparks new dispute: What to know

Barcelona

Samuel Wendel

Senior Analyst, Middle East Business & Tech

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

Turkish journalist sentenced to prison over report on Turkey sending weapons to Syria

Can Dundar was tried in absentia. The now Germany-based journalist reported on Turkish support for Syrian rebel groups in 2015, which angered President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

New draft law seeks to paralyze Turkish civil society

Groups across the ideological spectrum say the law, aimed at keeping Turkey from being blacklisted by the international money laundering watchdog, includes articles that will severely hamper their work.

Erdogan blasts European court's ruling on jailed Kurdish leader

The European Court of Human Rights said the imprisonment of Selahattin Demirtas had violated his basic rights.

Libyan military graduates loyal to the UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) take part in a parade marking their graduation, a result of a military training agreement with Turkey, at the Omar Mukhtar camp in the city of Tajoura, southeast of the capital Tripoli on November 21, 2020. (Photo by Mahmud TURKIA / AFP) (Photo by MAHMUD TURKIA/AFP via Getty Images)

Turkish Parliament extends troop deployment to Libya

The measure, which extends Turkey's presence in Libya by 18 months, had the backing of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's party.

PKK remains thorn in side of Turkish-Iraqi relations

The Iraqi government needs Turkey to counterbalance Iran and help alleviate Baghdad's economic problems, but the Kurdish issue, which has long strained bilateral ties, might further snag progress in economic and strategic projects.

Russia treads lightly in Syrian deadlock

Moscow is reacting with marked restraint to the escalation around Ain Issa, even seeming to play along with Ankara, though Turkey and the Syrian National Army have no reason to conduct offensive operations in the area.

Mountain of debt growing under the rug in Turkey

Turkey’s loan expansion has helped resuscitate the economy, but at the expense of an alarming surge in consumer and corporate debt.

Supporters of imprisoned Selahattin Demirtas, Presidential candidate and leader of People's Democratic Party (HDP) hold masks as they march, during a rally in Ankara, on June 19, 2018. (Photo by ADEM ALTAN / AFP) (Photo credit should read ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Europe human rights court calls on Turkey to release Demirtas

Europe’s top human rights court ruled Wednesday for the "immediate release" of Selahattin Demirtas, former co-chair of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), who has been imprisoned for more than four years in Turkey on terror-related charges.

Activists stand in front of a tank and hold up signs reading "stop exports of weapons" to protest against plans of German military technology group Rheinmetall to built a tank factory in Turkey, on April 26, 2017 in front of the Bundestag in Berlin. / AFP PHOTO / John MACDOUGALL (Photo credit should read JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP via Getty Images)

Germany opposes arms embargo against Turkey

Greece has called for European leaders to apply stronger pressure on Ankara over its actions in the eastern Mediterranean, but the appeals have largely fallen on deaf ears.

ahıska03.jpg

Is Turkey on course of foreign policy shift with pan-Turkist flavor?

Ankara appears to be mulling a US-friendly foreign policy revision to counter Iran and Russia in the Caucasus and Black Sea regions, but such a shift will not be without geopolitical risks elsewhere.

Syrian-Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and members of the Rojava Forces Defence Units walk near the town of Faysh Khabur, which lies in Iraq's Kurdish autonomous region near the three-way border crossing between Iraq-Syria-Turkey on March 29, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / SAFIN HAMED (Photo credit should read SAFIN HAMED/AFP via Getty Images)

KRG asks US forces to deploy along Kurdish-controlled part of Iraqi-Syrian border

In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani’s deputy chief of staff outlined why the Kurdish region's government wants US forces stationed in and around the Fish Khabur border crossing.

Women take part in a demonstration against the Somali President Mohamed Abdulahi Farmajo in Mogadishu on December 15, 2020 accused of interferences in the electoral process. (Photo by STRINGER / AFP) / The erroneous mention appearing in the metadata of this photo by STRINGER has been modified in AFP systems in the following manner: [a demonstration against the Somali President Mohamed Abdulahi Farmajo] instead of [a demonstration against the Somali Prime Minister]. Please immediately remove the erroneous me

Somalian opposition irked by Turkish support ahead of presidential elections

Turkey’s support to Somalia, a focal point of Ankara’s Africa outreach, has become increasingly controversial as the Somalian opposition fears that the president could use it to rig the upcoming elections.