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Turkey

July 3, 2026

Ankara 1:52 am

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A screenshot of one of Deniz Goktas' standup routines posted to YouTube.

Culture

Turkish standup comic detained after act calling Erdogan 'dictator' goes viral

Comedian Deniz Goktas’ arrest comes as Ankara intensifies prosecutions against opposition figures, journalists, artists and critics ahead of a major NATO summit.

Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud speaks during the launch of an offshore energy exploration at the port in Mogadishu on April 10, 2026.

Turkish jets strike al-Shabab targets in Somalia: What to know

A Somali Defense Ministry statement initially said Turkish F-16s carried out strikes on Al-Shabab targets before a later version referred only to “international partners.”

Syrian textile employees work in a textile workshop in Gaziantep, Turkey, on Jan. 30, 2025.

Explainer

Turkey eases job rules for 1M+ Syrians under temporary protection: What to know

The move, part of a broader easing of restrictions on Syrians living in Turkey, could allow roughly 1.1 million working-age Syrians to enter registered employment more easily as Ankara seeks to reduce informal labor and address workforce gaps.

KAREN MINASYAN / AFP via Getty Images

Turkey, Azerbaijan slam Israel’s Armenian genocide recognition as Yerevan mum

Ankara accused Israel of weaponizing history as Armenia avoided public comment amid delicate regional diplomacy.

Latest News

Analysis

Why Turkey and Egypt are deepening military ties amid regional turmoil

From (L-R) Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan attend a meeting in Cairo on June 21, 2026.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Explainer

Israel's Armenian genocide recognition marks new front against Turkey

Members of the Jerusalem Armenian community hold placards as they march during commemorations for the 94th anniversary of mass killings of their kin under the Ottoman Empire, Jerusalem's Old City, April 24, 2009.

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

Turkish police officers stand outside a basalt-stone Diyarbakir Evangelical Church in Diyarbakir July 19, 2004. A Turkish man described as mentally ill set fire to part of a Christian church in southeastern Turkey on Monday before authorities were able to subdue him, officials said. A 27-year-old shouting anti-American slogans broke into the Diyarbakir Evangelical Church and barricaded himself in the building's library and kitchen before vandalising property and lighting a fire. No one was hurt in the blaze

Turkey's Protestants complain of discrimination, harassment

A report by Turkey's tiny Protestant community shows some progress in the country, but also plenty of continuing bigotry.

Switzerland's President Simonetta Sommaruga (L), Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (2ndL), Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko (3rdL), Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Secretary-General Angel Gurria (3rdR), Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel (2ndR) take part with dozens of foreign leaders in a solidarity march (Marche Republicaine) in the streets of Paris January 11, 2015. Hundreds of thousands of French citizens will be joined by dozens of foreign leaders, among them

Mixed Turkish reactions to Paris massacre

The government’s attempt to be politically correct in its condemnation of the attack on Charlie Hebdo is not reflected by all elements of the ruling party and the Islamist media.

Turkish soldiers use mine detectors to search for landmines during a patrol on a road outside the south-eastern Turkish town of Sirnak bordering northern Iraq February 24, 2008. Turkey began sending thousands of ground troops across the mountainous border into northern Iraq on Thursday to crush PKK guerrillas who use the region as a base from which to attack targets inside Turkey. REUTERS/Fatih Saribas (TURKEY) - RTR1XHU0

Turkey faces demining delays

Having stalled for a decade, Turkey risks further delays in meeting its international obligations to clear vast minefields, most of them along the Syrian border.

Post-Paris: perilous future for Turkey, Muslims

A grave future is waiting for Turkey and Muslims after the Charlie Hebdo shootings on Jan. 7 in France.

An employee of the Council of Europe holds a placard which read "I am Charlie" and a pen, during a minute of silence in front of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg January 9, 2015, two days after gunmen stormed weekly satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris. The two main suspects in the weekly satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo killings were sighted on Friday in the northern French town of Dammartin-en-Goele where at least one person had been taken hostage, a police source said. REUTERS/Vincent Kessle

Turkish cartoonists threatened after Charlie Hebdo attacks

Turkish satirical journalists and cartoonists have been warned via phone and over social media to "learn" from the attack on Charlie Hebdo and be careful who they antagonize.

caretta UNDP Tahsin Ceylan.jpg

Turkey's threatened sea turtles

An AKP-affiliated developer's privatization attempts on a beach preserved for endangered sea turtles has turned Dalyan’s residents into environmental activists.

Kurdish people clash with Turkish police on December 29, 2014, at Cizre in Sirnak. Tensions ran high in the southeastern town of Cizre early on December 27 following armed clashes between members of the Patriotic Revolutionist Youth Movement (YDG-H), an affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and Huda-Par, a Kurdish Sunni Islamist party. AFP PHOTO/ILYAS AKENGIN (Photo credit should read ILYAS AKENGIN/AFP/Getty Images)

Turkey's AKP pits Kurd against Kurd

Attempts by the leaders of Turkey's ruling party to cast a Kurdish Islamist party as an alternative to the PKK are raising serious questions and feeding old rivalries.

(From L to R) Republican People's Party (CHP) MPs Riza Turmen, Osman Koruturk, Levent Gok, Erdal Aksunger and Emre Koprulu attend a news conference in Ankara January 5, 2015. A Turkish parliamentary commission voted on Monday not to send four former ministers accused in a corruption investigation to the Supreme Court for trial, effectively backing President Tayyip Erdogan after a scandal that had rattled his inner circle. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS CRIME LAW) - RTR4K4TW

Is the AKP shielding former ministers from corruption charges?

A Turkish parliamentary inquiry commission has decided not to put former government ministers on trial for corruption.

Russia and the Kurds

Russia balances its relationships with various Kurdish groups with its support for the states the Kurds live under.

Women walk as they shout slogans during a rally calling for gender equality, two days after International Women's Day, in Istanbul March 10, 2013. REUTERS/Osman Orsal (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3ET3V

Turkish women receive mixed messages on work-life balance

Officials from Turkey's Justice and Development Party have made a habit of issuing controversial social edicts to women that don't apply to their wives and daughters.

Airport staff stand next to an EgyptAir plane on the runway at Cairo Airport, September 5, 2013. The ongoing political crisis in Egypt has hit the once vibrant tourism industry hard, devastating a critical part of the country's economy. And with visitors scared away by civil strife in the aftermath of the ouster of President Mohamed Mursi, Egypt's national airliner, EgyptAir has been hit hard by the tourism slowdown. The airline has taken the brunt of losses in the tourism sector, losing billions of pounds

Cairo imposes new restrictions on travelers

Egyptian authorities have implemented new measures to restrict the entry of foreigners and to prevent Egyptians from traveling to politically unfriendly countries like Qatar and Turkey.

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan speaks to the Libyan people on the 80th anniversary of the martyrdom of Libyan resistance hero Omar al-Mukhtar, near the shrine of his burial place in Benghazi September 16, 2011. Hundreds of Libyans joined Erdogan in prayer on Friday in Tripoli, heaping praise on him for backing the revolt against Muammar Gaddafi. The Turkish prime minister, who is promoting Ankara's blend of Islam and democracy as a model for North African states, hailed Libya's revolution by invokin

Political missteps in Libya cause Turkey's economy to stumble

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the AKP government's backing of the Muslim Brotherhood in Libya is inflicting billions of dollars of economic losses on Turkey and eroding its political influence in Libya and Saharan Africa.