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

Turkey

Turkey

November 5, 2026

Ankara 1:56 am

10°C

Turkey probes Google’s AI search tools, orders protections for news websites

Turkey’s competition watchdog said it is assessing whether AI-generated answers appearing on Google Search divert traffic from news sites and impose unfair content-use terms.

A protestor holds a flag bearing a portrait of jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan during a demonstration of Kurdish people from all around Europe to mark the 27th anniversary of his arrest and to demand his liberation, in Strasbourg, Eastern France, on Feb. 14, 2026.

Turkey moves PKK leader Ocalan to prison villa as peace process faces new test

The move is expected to give the PKK leader a more direct role in negotiations, but deep divisions over disarmament and Kurdish rights continue to threaten the process.

OSCE Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioglu is pictured during a joint press conference with the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Switzerland's Foreign Minister at Vienna International Airport on Feb. 6, 2026 in Schwechat, Lower Austria.

Explainer

Who is Feridun Sinirlioglu, Turkey’s candidate for UN chief?

The Turkish president's confidant enters the race for UN chief with decades of diplomatic experience marked by both praise and scrutiny.

Demonstrators hold a banner reading "Free Gaza, free world"

Analysis

Gaza progress, Syria pullback: What Turkey wants from Israel’s next government

Ankara sees room for limited improvement in ties if Israel’s next government eases Gaza’s humanitarian crisis and reduces military pressure on Syria.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Latest News

Explainer

After EU rebuff, how Turkey is courting Egypt for maritime deal

Turkish Navy sailors wave their caps from the flight deck

Culture

Rock collapse near UNESCO-listed site in Turkey’s Cappadocia kills three

An view of the Uchisar settlement, east of Nevesehir in the province of the same name in central Turkey's historical Cappadocia region on Aug. 24, 2022.

Tornado kills 4 in Turkey’s Mediterranean tourism hub Antalya

Kepez

Saudi Arabia’s KBS, top Turkish and Pakistani officials hold rare meeting in Iran: What to know

GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT/AFP via Getty Images

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

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan looks on as he is welcomed by European Parliament President at the European Parliament in Brussels, on October 5, 2015, as part of a meeting with the European Union's top officials for urgent talks on the migration crisis and the Syrian war that is producing so many of the refugees. AFP PHOTO /EMMANUEL DUNAND (Photo credit should read EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images)

Post-referendum, what’s next for Turkey’s EU bid?

EU foreign ministers disappoint Turkey’s democratic opposition by declaring “respect” for referendum results that further empower President Erdogan.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu attend a news conference in Ankara, Turkey, March 30, 2017. REUTERS/Umit Bektas - RTX33DCF

US, Turkish nerves fray as Erdogan visit nears

The Turkish foreign minister shared a heated conversation with his American counterpart in the wake of the Turkish airstrikes in Syria, and despite US fury, Ankara's increasingly roguish behavior will likely remain unchanged.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin (R) and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu attend a news conference in Kiev, Ukraine, February 10, 2017. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko - RTX30F7R

Turkey-Ukraine defense industry ties are booming

Turkey is promoting deals with Ukraine to bypass Western embargoes in the defense industry and share critical military technologies.

TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY DILAY GUNDOGAN
A man sells beer near Taksim Square in Istanbul on June 29, 2014. New alcohol legislation has made it more expensive and harder to buy or sell alcohol in Turkey, with critics accusing the Islamic-rooted government of imposing a religious agenda in the mainly Muslim but officially secular nation. Turkey's sizeable secular population has denounced the new laws as repressive, pointing out the country already has the lowest alcohol consumption among OECD countries. AFP PHO

Turkish bans on Wikipedia and public drinking rouse anger

The Turkish public has reacted with anger to both the Antalya police department's ban on the public consumption of alcohol and a Turkish court's ban on Wikipedia.

American army vehicles drive north of Manbij city, in Aleppo Governorate, Syria March 9, 2017. REUTERS/Rodi Said - RTS126K2

US move to protect YPG could push Turkey into Russia's arms

US special forces have deployed along Syrian border to deter Turkey from further attacks against Syrian Kurdish forces but the United States has no sway over Russian-dominated northwestern Syria, prompting conjecture about a possible Russian-Turkish deal for Idlib.

Who killed exiled Iranian TV executive in Istanbul?

The owner of GEM TV, which airs dubbed Western programs into Iran, was gunned down in the streets of Istanbul.

A U.S. military commander (2nd R) walks with Kurdish fighters from the People's Protection Units (YPG) at the YPG headquarters that was hit by Turkish airstrikes in Mount Karachok near Malikiya, Syria April 25, 2017. REUTERS/Rodi Said - RTS13T7Q

Three reasons Turkey bombed Syria and Iraq

Turkish government officials provided Al-Monitor rare insight into Turkey's mindset, explaining the reasoning behind the controversial attacks on Syrian Kurdish fighters.

A helicopter carrying U.S. military officials arrive at the headquarters of the Kurdish fighters from the People's Protection Units (YPG) that was hit by Turkish airstrikes in Mount Karachok near Malikiya, Syria April 25, 2017. REUTERS/Rodi Said - RTS13T7T

Erdogan tests Trump with attack on Syrian Kurds

US-Turkey relations sink further following airstrikes; Russia’s expanding military presence in Syria.

Fighters from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) inspect the damage at their headquarters after it was hit by Turkish airstrikes in Mount Karachok near Malikiya, Syria April 25, 2017. REUTERS/ Rodi Said - RTS13V4D

Does Turkey plan to continue airstrikes in Iraq, Syria?

Turkey’s recent bombings of groups it says are linked to Kurdish terrorists give Russia and the United States something else to agree on.

Members of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) inspect the damage at their headquarters after it was hit by Turkish airstrikes in Mount Karachok near Malikiya, Syria April 25, 2017. REUTERS/ Rodi Said - RTS13V4H

White House still quiet on Turkish airstrike in run-up to Erdogan visit

The general US reactions to Turkish airstrikes in Syria have been loud, but the White House has yet to utter a single rebuke as Turkey's president packs for Washington.

A money changer counts Turkish lira bills at a currency exchange office in Istanbul January 24, 2014. A global flight from emerging market assets gathered pace on Friday, sending the Turkish lira to a record low and setting global shares on course for their worst week this year. European shares fell, especially in firms exposed to emerging markets, and a sell-off on Wall Street was poised to extend into a second day as investors worried about the impact of slower growth in China, U.S. monetary policy and po

Can Turkey disprove IMF's dismal economic growth forecast?

The International Monetary Fund expects the Turkish economy to further slow down in 2017, but Ankara believes it can disprove the forecast.

Kurdish fighters fire shells towards what they said were Islamic State strongholds in Tel Abyad of Raqqa governorate after they said they took control of the area June 15, 2015. Syrian Kurdish-led forces said they had captured a town at the Turkish border from Islamic State on Monday, driving it away from the frontier in an advance backed by U.S.-led air strikes that has thrust deep into the jihadists' Syria stronghold. The capture of Tel Abyad by the Kurdish YPG and smaller Syrian rebel groups means the Sy

Trump's generals wonder: What comes after Raqqa?

A senior US official says Turkish bombing of Syrian Kurdish forces is adding a new level of complexity to US efforts to defeat the Islamic State and retake Raqqa.