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

Turkey

Turkey

July 3, 2026

Ankara 7:53 am

22°C

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

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.

10-eza3ycih.j5s.jpg

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?

Islamist Syrian rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra members gesture while posing on a tank on Al-Khazan frontline of Khan Sheikhoun, northern Idlib province May 17, 2014. REUTERS/Hamid Khatib (SYRIA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST MILITARY POLITICS CONFLICT) - RTR3PM9N

Jabhat al-Nusra deflates hopes of Assad opponents

Following the Islamic State's advance, Jabhat al-Nusra has also moved to the Turkish border, routing moderate rebels and dashing the hopes of “train and equip” proponents eager for a renewed war on the Syrian regime.

An Israeli gas platform is seen in the back as a sailor in the Israeli navy stands aboard a patrol boat in the Mediterranean sea some 15 miles (24 km) west of the port city of Ashdod February 25, 2013. Israel's huge new offshore gas resource offers its enemies an obvious target and gives its navy, long overshadowed by other branches of the Israeli armed forces, a big job that will require extra spending. Picture taken February 25, 2013. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (ISRAEL - Tags: MILITARY ENERGY BUSINESS POLITICS MA

Military presence increases in eastern Mediterranean

Regional crises and economic squabbles have led to a military buildup in the eastern Mediterranean that threatens to shift from feints and preparation to armed conflict as Russian and NATO forces further complicate the situation.