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Turkey

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan buttons up his jacket during a press conference after the conclusion of the G20 Leaders' Summit at the Nasrec Expo Centre in Johannesburg on November 23, 2025.

Explainer

Turkey-Israel tensions flare over Syria, Lebanon, East Med: What to know

The Turkish president has accused Israel of threatening Turkey through its military actions in Syria, Lebanon and the Eastern Mediterranean, triggering a sharp exchange with the Israeli prime minister.

Aamir QURESHI / AFP via Getty Images

Explainer

Turkey names new envoys to Iran, Oman, Qatar in regional reshuffle

Turkey’s latest ambassadorial changes mark a partial return to career diplomacy in Tehran and the Gulf as Ankara maintains a balancing act amid the Iran war.

Latest News

Analysis

Turkey's probe into pro-secular tycoon goes beyond crude Kurdish joke

Rahmi Koc

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Explainer

Saudi Arabia, Turkey advance plans to revive historic Hejaz Railway

An old locomotive sits outside the Hejaz rail station in old Damascus on February 23, 2010. The Hejaz railway ran from Damascucs to Medina in Saudi Arabia and was part of the Ottoman railway network. AFP PHOTO/LOUAI BESHARA (Photo credit should read LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Will Pashinyan’s victory in Armenia be enough to unlock peace with Turkey, Azerbaijan?

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met on the sidelines of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, Sept. 24, 2024.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

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

Erdogan doesn't let facts interfere with rhetoric

The spin Turkey's president puts on his country's most recent incursion into Syria wanders far from reality.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan attend the start of the NATO summit in Brussels, Belgium July 11, 2018. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque - RC117DD2EDF0

Can Trump, Erdogan pick up the pieces in Syria?

Putin gains from the fallout in US-Turkey ties and the Kurds are still counting on US influence with Ankara.

Turkey’s Operation Peace Spring effectively divides Syria into five sectors

The essential division of northeastern Syria into five sectors has created a highly combustible environment where one small spark is enough to start a massive fire.

An Islamic State flag flies over the custom office of Syria's Jarablus border gate as it is pictured from the Turkish town of Karkamis, in Gaziantep province, Turkey August 1, 2015. Karkamis is a Turkish town of 10,500 people that sits directly opposite the border post. Shut for more than a year, the military sealed the crossing with a breeze block wall a few months ago. Behind it, just inside Syria, the black flag of Islamic State flaps in the breeze. Karkamis lies on the northeastern edge of a rectangle o

Turkey-Europe ties brace for fresh rift over stateless IS militants

The fate of foreign Islamic State militants captured in Syria is looming as a big headache for Turkey as many of them are now stateless, expelled from the citizenship of European countries.

WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 12: Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) speaks during a news conference discussing discuss a resolution to end U.S. military support for Saudi Arabia's war with Yemen on Capitol Hill on December 12, 2018 in Washington, DC. Also pictured are Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ). (Photo by Zach Gibson/Getty Images)

Intel: How two senators could force Trump to ban US arm sales to Turkey

U.S. President Donald Trump attends a bilateral meeting with Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan during the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque - RC15E2597F00

Seeking to restore relations on Capitol Hill, Erdogan to visit Trump in Washington

With US-Turkey ties in disarray, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has confirmed his Nov. 13 meeting with President Donald Trump in Washington, where he may seek to win over allies in Congress.

Journalist Nazli Ilicak, previously sentenced to life imprisonment for aiding the network of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, accused by Ankara of orchestrating a coup attempt in 2016, is embraced by her relatives after being released from a prison in Istanbul, Turkey, November 4, 2019. REUTERS/Huseyin Aldemir - RC11B929AC90

Is release of two prominent journalists a sign of normalization?

The release of two well-known journalists from prison shouldn’t lead anyone to believe and hope that Turkey is becoming less autocratic.

Turkish government fears compensation claims for Armenian genocide

A resolution passed by the US House of Representatives recognizing the 1915 Armenian genocide has stirred up Turkish concerns of Armenian demands for compensation.

What messages lie behind Assad’s visit to southern Idlib?

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s recent visit to the front line in southern Idlib province raised controversy and questions among opposition forces about Assad's goals and what messages he might have been sending — and to whom.

A customer (C) uses an automated teller machine at a branch of Halkbank in Istanbul August 15, 2014. Turkey's state-run lender Halkbank said on Friday it has offer to buy a 76.76 percent stake in Serbian lender Cacanska Banka for an undisclosed sum. Halkbank offered no further details on the potential acquisition in a statement to the Istanbul stock exchange. REUTERS/Osman Orsal (TURKEY - Tags: BUSINESS) - GM1EA8F1MZB01

Penalties loom as lawyer for Turkey's Halkbank delays US court proceedings

Turkey’s state-owned Halkbank may face financial penalties and further political blowback after once again refusing to recognize criminal charges in a New York court this week.

Turkish military vehicles arrive at the Turkish-Syrian border before a joint Turkish-Russian patrol in northeast Syria, near the Turkish border town of Kiziltepe in Mardin province, Turkey, November 1, 2019. REUTERS/Kemal Aslan - RC188E120370

Turkey faces uphill battle to improve image after Syria operation

The Turkish president is maintaining his hard line, which indicates that Ankara’s ties with the international community will remain strained.

Turkish and Russian military vehicles return following a joint patrol in northeast Syria, as they are pictured from near the Turkish border town of Kiziltepe in Mardin province, Turkey, November 1, 2019. REUTERS/Kemal Aslan - RC1A4E403CD0

Ankara faces hostility in north Syria as Turkish-Russian patrols continue

Crowds threw stones and eggs at Turkish-Russian convoys as they entered the predominantly Kurdish town of Kobani in northern Syria.