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Turkey

July 3, 2026

Ankara 10:29 pm

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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.

Latest News

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

KAREN MINASYAN / AFP via Getty Images

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

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan addresses the audience at a meeting at his ruling Ak Party (AKP) headquarters in Ankara June 25, 2014, as he stands in front of the huge portraits of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of modern Turkey, and himself. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3VNAV

Will Erdogan be Turkey’s next Ataturk?

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan seems to partly admire, and imitate, the methods Ataturk used to accumulate and consolidate power.

Iron rods ready for shipment are piled at Israel Shipyards Port in Haifa February 5, 2014. Three years after Syria plunged into violence, Israel is reaping an unlikely economic benefit. Exports from Turkey have begun to flow through Israel and across the Sheikh Hussein Bridge to Jordan and a few Arab neighbours. The trade is growing enough to encourage long-held Israeli hopes that the Jewish state can become a commercial gateway to the Arab world. Picture taken February 5, 2014. To match Insight ISRAEL-TRAD

Trade, security concerns bring Turkey, Israel closer

Turkish-Israeli relations are still far from normalized, but developments in the region are converging the two countries' security and economic interests.

Turkish trucks and tankers, shuttling between Turkey and Iraq, queue on a road leading to the Habur border gate in southeastern Turkey, before crossing into Iraq with their goods, February 23, 2008. Turkey's exports to Iraq jumped nine percent last year to $2.8 billion and its influence can be felt across northern Iraq in the form of supermarkets, consumer goods, construction firms and traders from all over Turkey. To match feature TURKEY-IRAQ/CONFLICT REUTERS/Fatih Saribas (TURKEY) - RTR1XKEF

Turkish truckers try to get on the road again

With the dangers and difficulties now inherent in transiting in Iraq and Syria, the Turkish transportation sector is looking for alternative routes to Middle Eastern markets.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyib Erdogan`s wife Emine Erdogan (L), Recep Tayyip Erdogan (2nd L), Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew (C), Armenian Orthodox Archbishop Aram Atesyan (R) talk during a dinner on August 28, 2011, at the Archeology Museum Garden in Istanbul. Erdogan hosted religious leaders and the heads of about 160 minority trusts at a fast-breaking dinner for Ramadan. AFP PHOTO/BULENT KILIC (Photo credit should read BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul sues for fraud

The defrauding of the Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul reflects how vulnerable minorities are in Turkey.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan speaks to supporters during his visit in Cologne May 24, 2014. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay (GERMANY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3QO46

What should West expect from Erdogan as president?

The United States and others in the West are speculating about what Turkish foreign policy might look like under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose nomination speech left no doubt about his strong Islamic inclinations.

Eggs packed in cartons are pictured at a chicken farm in the western town of Schleiden January 6, 2011. The German government moved to calm public fears on Wednesday after highly toxic dioxin contamination in the feed of poultry and hogs turned out to be far more widespread than first thought. REUTERS/Ina Fassbender (GERMANY - Tags: POLITICS HEALTH FOOD) - RTXW9LJ

Turkey assesses losses from Iraqi market

Turkish officials, politicians and traders are trying to calculate Turkey's losses in the Iraqi market after the ISIS takeover of Mosul and other Iraqi cities.

Supporters of Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan cheer as he declares his candidacy in Ankara July 1, 2014. Erdogan declared his candidacy on Tuesday for a more powerful presidency which rivals fear may entrench authoritarian rule and supporters, especially conservative Muslims, see as the crowning prize in his drive to reshape NATO member Turkey. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTR3WLVO

Erdogan looks for first-round knockout in presidential contest

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will use all his power to clinch a first-round victory in the presidential race on Aug. 10, which is not assured.

An image of Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on a twitter account is pictured through a magnifying glass in this illustration picture taken in Istanbul March 21, 2014. Turkey's courts have blocked access to Twitter days before elections as Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan battles a corruption scandal that has seen social media platforms awash with alleged evidence of government wrongdoing. The ban came hours after a defiant Erdogan, on the campaign trail ahead of key March 30 local elections, vowed to "wi

Turkish judiciary bulwark against authoritarian tilt

The Turkish judiciary emerges as a block on a trend toward more centralized power by Prime Minister Erdogan.

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (C), his wife Emine Erdogan and Deputy Chairman of AK Party (AKP) Mehmet Ali Sahin attend a meeting where he is named as his party's candidate for the country's first direct presidential election in Ankara July 1, 2014. Tayyip Erdogan declared his candidacy on Tuesday for a more powerful presidency which rivals fear may entrench authoritarian rule and supporters, especially conservative Muslims, see as the crowning prize in his drive to reshape NATO member Turkey. REUT

Erdogan’s path of 'illiberal democracy'

To understand where Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is taking Turkey, look to Latin America.

Visitors walk inside a cave situated below the ancient towns of Maresha and Beit Guvrin in the Judean Lowlands June 24, 2014. UNESCO designated the caves of Maresha and Beit Guvrin as a world heritage site on Sunday. The site features expansive man-made ancient tunnel systems, some dating back as early as the first century BC. REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly (ISRAEL - Tags: ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY TRAVEL) - RTR3VIXK

Turks come to Israel in record numbers

The strengthening of business ties between the two countries results in an increase in Turkish citizens arriving in Israel, Israeli officials say.

A map of the Kurdistan region is seen on the wall of a school where a Christian family who fled from the violence in Mosul two days ago, is staying in Arbil, in Iraq's Kurdistan region June 27, 2014. Iraqi forces launched an airborne assault on rebel-held Tikrit on Thursday with commandos flown into a stadium in helicopters, at least one of which crashed after taking fire from insurgents who have seized northern cities. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS CONFLICT SOCIETY) - RTR3W0Y0

Would Turkey accept a Kurdish state?

As the likelihood of an independent Kurdish state on Turkey’s eastern border grows, Ankara is losing its historical resistance to the idea.

Members of the Iraqi security forces fire artillery during the clashes with the predominantly Sunni militants from the radical Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the town of Dalli Abbas in Diyala province, June 28, 2014. Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the most influential Shi'ite cleric in Iraq, called on the country's leaders on Friday to choose a prime minister within the next four days, a dramatic political intervention that could hasten the end of Nuri al-Maliki's eight year rule. Picture take

The Syria disconnect in US Iraq policy

Iraq welcomes Syrian airstrikes on ISIS; Aleppo’s water crisis.