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

Turkey

Turkey

November 7, 2026

Ankara 8:33 pm

4°C

Costa Rica's Grynspan extends lead in UNSG poll as Nusseibeh places fourth

The Costa Rican candidate received 12 encourage votes in Thursday's UN Security Council straw poll.

United Arab Emirates

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses Turkish members of parliament during the opening of the parliamentary session at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in Ankara, on Oct. 1, 2026.

Turkey’s parliament ratifies Mecca pact in boost to Saudi Arabia

Turkey will now decide the scope of military support for Saudi Arabia amid ongoing Iran-backed Houthi attacks on the kingdom.

TOFIK BABAYEV/AFP via Getty Images

Can Erdogan’s Baku visit fix Turkey-Azerbaijan rift?

A dispute over religious dress in schools has exposed deeper tensions between the two allies, with energy, arms sales, Israel and financial interests adding to the strain.

Latest News

Turkey says soldier killed by gunfire from Iran at border: What to know

A sign marking the border of Turkey in Van, Turkey, on March 14, 2026.

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

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

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.

Explainer

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

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.

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 Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan arrives for a ceremony in Ankara December 18, 2013. Scores of people including three ministers' sons, prominent businessmen close to Erdogan and local government officials were detained on Tuesday in the biggest corruption investigation since he swept to power in 2002. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX16NF0

Erdogan caught off guard in latest political crisis

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan may opt for early elections to ride out the corruption storm.

Riot police use tear gas to disperse pro-Kurdish demonstrators during a protest in the southeastern Turkish town of Nusaybin, on the Turkish-Syrian border, November 7, 2013. Thousands of Kurds protested on Thursday against Turkish plans to build a wall along the Syrian border, calling it a move to stop Kurdish communities strengthening cross-frontier ties as Syria splinters from civil war. Nusaybin is separated from the Syrian town of Qamishli by a strip of no-man's land and barbed wire fencing. REUTERS/Str

Can Turkey’s Kurds, military ever reconcile?

A court case in Diyarbakir provides hope for the first time for reconciliation between the Turkish military and Kurdish citizens.

Protesters demonstrate against Turkey's ruling Ak Party (AKP) government and demand that Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's resign because of the corruption investigation in Ankara December 18, 2013. Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said on Wednesday a corruption investigation in which 52 people including the sons of three cabinet ministers have been detained was part of a "planned operation" to tarnish the government. In the first official comments on the investigation from a senior member of the go

Turkish journalists caught in cross fire of AKP-Gulen conflict

The latest corruption scandal will be no picnic to cover.

Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev (L) and Turkey's President Abdullah Gul (R) attend a welcoming ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Ankara November 12, 2013. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX15AC4

Gul may be winner in Turkey’s 'mother of all battles'

Abdullah Gul and Turkish democracy may be the winners in the latest AKP-Gulen escalation.

Residents and Kurdish fighters celebrate what they said was the liberation of their village from Islamist rebels near the city of Ras al-Ain November 5, 2013. The picture depicts a member of the Kurdish Youth Movement who died during the fighting. Redur Xelil, spokesman for the armed wing of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), said Kurdish militias had seized the city of Ras al-Ain and all its surrounding villages. Syrian Kurdish fighters have captured more territory from Islamist rebels in nor

Syrian and Iraqi Kurds more divided over Syria

The Syria war is proving to be a divisive, rather than unifying, force among the Kurds of Iraq and Syria.

Pedestrians look at billboards with the pictures of Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (R) and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu (L), in Ankara March 25, 2013. Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday an Israeli apology for the 2010 deaths of nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists that was brokered by U.S. President Barack Obama met Turkey's conditions and signalled its growing regional clout. The billboard reads, "Israel apologized to Turkey. Dear Prime Minister (Erdogan), We ar

Turkey-Israel ties await 'normalization'

For now, both Turkey and Israel may prefer the status quo.

Turkey's European Affairs Minister Egemen Bagis listens to European Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule (R) after EU-Turkey accession talks in Brussels November 5, 2013. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir (BELGIUM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX150NH

Turkey’s give and take with EU on visa policy

Ankara has started uphill talks with the EU on visa-free travel for Turkish citizens in return for agreeing to take back immigrants who illegally enter the EU via Turkey.

Demonstrators set barricades on fire as they clash with riot police during a protest in the Tuzlucayir neighbourhood of Ankara September 9, 2013. Billed as a symbol of peace between two faiths, a new place of worship has turned Tuzlucayir, a poor suburb of Ankara, into a battleground and exposed wider sectarian tensions within Turkey. The project's blueprint envisages a Sunni mosque rising side by side with a new cemevi, or assembly house, to be used by Alevis, Turkey's biggest religious minority. But with

Alevi jitters worsen in Turkey

Turkey’s Alevi community fears that the government’s ostracizing rhetoric and policies are encouraging discrimination and physical attacks.

Muslim Brotherhood's new TV channel unlikely to influence viewers

Unless the broadcasters behind Rabaa TV can offer more than sarcasm and spin, viewers in Egypt are likely to lose interest.

A Kurdish female fighter from Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) checks her weapon near Ras al-Ain, in the province of Hasakah, after capturing it from Islamist rebels November 6, 2013. Redur Xelil, spokesman for the armed wing of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), said Kurdish militias had seized the city of Ras al-Ain and all its surrounding villages. Syrian Kurdish fighters have captured more territory from Islamist rebels in northeastern Syria, a Kurdish militant group said on Monday,

Syrian Kurds jockey for seat at Geneva talks

As long as the Assad regime and the opposition fail to come to an agreement, Syria’s Kurds will continue to consolidate their gains.

Turkish journalist and Republican People's Party (CHP) MP Mustafa Balbay addresses the members of the Turkish Parliament during a debate on a draft budget as Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (rear C) and his ministers listen in Ankara December 10, 2013. Turkish journalist Mustafa Balbay took his oath of office as a member of parliament on Tuesday after his release from nearly five years in prison on security charges, raising hope among other jailed deputies that they could follow in his footsteps. REU

The AKP’s accountability crisis

The AKP’s inability to provide accounts of its spending from the previous year generates uproar in Turkey’s parliament, raising questions on the legitimacy of the 2014 budget.

People light candles during a religious service to mark the anniversary of mass killings of Armenians in 1915, in Yerevan April 23, 2010. Steeped in history and surrounded by mountains, Armenia's capital Yerevan offers lively cafes, a bustling weekend market, stunning scenery and a rich religious heritage as one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Picture taken April 23, 2010. REUTERS/David Mdzinarishvili (ARMENIA - Tags: RELIGION ANNIVERSARY TRAVEL SOCIETY) - RTX154W3

Will Turks, Armenians ever reconcile?

The visit of Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to Yerevan could be a positive first step in Turkish-Armenian reconciliation.