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

Turkey

Turkey

September 11, 2026

Ankara 9:37 am

22°C

El Alamein International Airshow

Turkey’s defense giants court Egypt at Alamein Airshow: What to know

Three leading Turkish defense companies are participating in the El Alamein Airshow as Ankara seeks new sales and closer military-industrial cooperation with Egypt.

In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hold a meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Bishkek on September 1, 2026. (Photo by Kristina Solovyova / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)

Russia to give Turkey preferential fertilizer access amid Hormuz supply crunch

Ankara is expected to secure easier access to Russian fertilizer exports as the Iran war disrupts supplies from key Gulf producers.

Leyla Borovali at her studio overlooking the Aegean

Culture

Turkish ceramicist Leyla Borovali shapes Aegean heritage into clay

Named by AD Middle East as one of 11 artists from Turkey to know, Leyla Borovali belongs to a new generation building on a ceramic tradition shaped by figures from Fureya Koral and Alev Ebuzziya Siesbye to Elif Uras.

Latest News

Analysis

With Hurjet test, Turkey seeks defense dominance beyond drones

TAI Hurjet

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Turkey and Greece's intelligence chiefs hold rare talks: What to know

Ibrahim Kalin, Turkish presidential spokesperson, gives a press conference at the Presidential Complex, Ankara, May 25, 2022.

US sanctions Turkey-based bank over Iran ties

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Israel, Greece sign $3.5 billion air-defense deal: What to know

Mecca Alliance

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

Egypt's Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy (L) speaks with Army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (R) during their meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, February 13, 2014. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov (RUSSIA - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY) - RTX18QBK

Egypt caught between Russia, Saudi Arabia

Egypt is struggling to find a way to leverage its ties with both Russia and Saudi Arabia to its own advantage.

U.S citizens returning from Libya arrive at Ataturk international airport in Istanbul February 25, 2011. The United States announced on Friday it would soon impose sanctions on Libya and bluntly said the legitimacy of longtime Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had been "reduced to zero." REUTERS/Osman Orsal (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR2J4AK

Still banned from Turkey

For the second time since 2007, Turkey denied an Al-Monitor contributor entry because of his work as a journalist on Kurdish issues.

Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister of the Hamas Gaza government, prays before delivering a speech in Gaza City October 19, 2013. Haniyeh urged rival Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to speed up the implementation of the faltering Egyptian-brokered unity deal to heal six years of political rifts. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX14GN2

Hamas debates technocrat government in Gaza

The loss of financial support from Iran has reportedly contributed to Gaza's current crisis, according to Hamas sources.

A damaged armoured carrier that belonged to forces loyal to president Bashar al-Assad are seen along a deserted street in Homs March 8, 2014 REUTERS/Thaer Al Khalidiya (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTR3G99W

Watch Trendlines “Blowback?: Ukraine and the Middle East"

The next PBS NewsHour-Al-Monitor web special will focus on the implications of the crisis in Ukraine for US policy in the Middle East.

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (C) cuts the ribbon during the opening ceremony of the new building of the Turkish Embassy in Doha December 4, 2013. REUTERS/Mohammed Dabbous (QATAR - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX163G5

GCC rift another blow to Erdogan’s Mideast policies

Turkey is increasingly isolated in the region, more so as Qatar is on the outs with other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Supporters of ruling AK Party (AKP) listen as Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (his portrait seen on foreground) addresses during an election rally in Malatya March 6, 2014. Turkey will hold municipal elections on March 30. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR3G4X8

In latest tape, Erdogan calls judiciary

Leaked tapes suggest Recep Tayyip Erdogan interfered directly in the judiciary to curb press freedom.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal bin Abdulaziz (R) is greeted by an officer upon his arrival to attend the 130th meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Riyadh on March 4, 2014. AFP PHOTO / FAYEZ NURELDINE (Photo credit should read FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP/Getty Images)

Saudi-Qatar tensions divide GCC

The announcement by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates that they are withdrawing their ambassadors to Qatar is a further sign of the deterioration in Saudi-Qatar ties and the fragmentation of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Pro-Russian demonstrators erect a Russian flag outside the regional government building in Donetsk March 5, 2014. Pro-Moscow youths recaptured the administrative headquarters of the eastern city of Donetsk and flew the Russian flag from its roof on Wednesday, hours after Kiev's authorities managed to fly their own flag there for the first time since Saturday. REUTERS/Stringer (UKRAINE - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3G2UQ

US-Russia Mideast cooperation in balance over Ukraine?

In the absence of a diplomatic settlement between the West and Russia over Ukraine, Moscow may seek to capitalize on recent gains in the Middle East at US expense.

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a Russian government meeting in the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow March 5, 2014. Putin said on Wednesday he did not want political tension to detract from economic cooperation with Russia's "traditional partners", signalling he hopes to avoid spillover from a bitter dispute with the West over Ukraine. REUTERS/Alexei Druzhinin/RIA Novosti/Kremlin (RUSSIA - Tags: BUSINESS POLITICS) THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RE

Russia has Mideast options in response to Ukraine

As the United States weighs its options in response to Russia’s moves in Crimea, Russia holds its own cards, especially with Syria and Iran.

Members of Turkey's Alevi community attend a rally in Ankara November 9, 2008. Thousands of Turkish Alevis marched in Ankara on Sunday in their first massive demonstration to call for an end to discrimination by the government and compulsory religious classes. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY) - RTXAF3A

Alevis want back places of worship seized by Ataturk

The return of Alevi places of worship could be a milestone in Turkey’s democracy.

Protesters seize a portrait of Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan during a demonstration against the opening of a new road include a part of the Middle East Technical University campus in Ankara February 25, 2014. Erdogan opened the road across the Middle East Technical University campus and uprooting a large number of trees in the area in Ankara on Tueasday. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3FPP6

Erdogan's endless legitimacy crisis

Neither the ballot box nor a harsher regime seem to be able to rescue Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan from his current political troubles.

Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen is pictured at his residence in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania September 26, 2013. Born in Erzurum, eastern Turkey, Gulen built up his reputation as a Muslim preacher with intense sermons that often moved him to tears. From his base in Izmir, he toured Turkey stressing the need to embrace scientific progress, shun radicalism and build bridges to the West and other faiths. The first Gulen school opened in 1982. In the following decades, the movement became a spectacular success, s

Gulenists use hate speech against Shiites, Iranians

Turkey’s Gulenists, hostile to Iran and to Shiites, incite Sunnis to enmity and hatred against Shiites.