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Turkey

Turkey

September 13, 2026

Ankara 6:12 pm

32°C

People swim next to the Russian-flagged cargo ship OMSKIY-107, which was attacked off the Black Sea coast and eventually ran aground off the shore of the Sile district, Istanbul, Sept. 3, 2026.

Why Turkey has few options to protect Black Sea shipping

The Russia-Ukraine drone war is hitting Turkish commercial interests, exposing the limits of Ankara’s ability to protect shipping while remaining outside the conflict.

Fighters loyal to the Houthi authorities gather during a rally to recruit more fighters in Sanaa on Sept. 10, 2026.

Analysis

Saudi Arabia's Houthi crisis tests alliances with Trump, Turkey and Pakistan

As the Houthis tighten their grip on the Bab al-Mandeb, Saudi Arabia is turning to new regional alliances while Washington resists calls to intervene.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Latest News

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

El Alamein International Airshow

Russia to give Turkey preferential fertilizer access amid Hormuz supply crunch

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)

Culture

Turkish ceramicist Leyla Borovali shapes Aegean heritage into clay

Leyla Borovali at her studio overlooking the Aegean

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

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 President Abdullah Gul (R) and Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan attend a delivery ceremony for the first nationally designed combat ship TCG Heybeliada at the Tuzla Naval shipyard in Istanbul September 27, 2011. REUTERS/Osman Orsal (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY) - RTR2RWLG

Are Gul, Erdogan Playing 'Good Cop, Bad Cop' With Egypt?

It appears Turkey’s president and prime minister are playing a "good cop, bad cop" routine on Egypt, but their differences are real.

Raki bottles are displayed at a restaurant in Ankara September 27, 2011. Turkey is providing rich opportunities for merger specialists trawling for the next big deal, as the country's booming economy and improving corporate governance partially insulate it from a slowing global M&A market. The most popular M&A sectors have been energy, power generation and finance. But the biggest splash so far this year was made by the world's biggest spirits company, Diageo, which agreed in February to buy Turkish raki an

Pardon My Turkish: Battle for 'Halal' Words

Being politically correct takes another unexpected turn in Turkey as a new vocabulary permeates the social scene, further deepening political fault lines.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (R) meets with Iraq's Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani in Ankara July 30, 2013. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX1252R

Turkey’s Syrian Kurdish Gamble: A Double Edged Sword

Turkey’s efforts to contain Syrian Kurdish autonomy while pursuing peace with its own Kurds could backfire.

Fans of Besiktas (Black-White), Galatasaray (Yellow-Red) and Fenerbahce (Yellow-Blue) pose during an anti-government protest at Taksim Square in central Istanbul June 2, 2013. Days of anti-government protest in Turkey have achieved one feat that has eluded the authorities for years: uniting the fiercely rival and sometimes violent supporters of Istanbul's "Big Three" football clubs. Besiktas, Galatasaray and Fenerbahce fans have come together in new-found solidarity during five days of demonstrations agains

Turkish Fans Ponder Football Without Freedom

The Turkish government fears political dissent will find its way to football games, so one major club takes controversial measures to prevent it.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (R) and Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu hold a joint news conference at the Russian embassy in Washington after their meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, August 9, 2013. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas (UNITED STATES - Tags: MILITARY POLITICS) - RTX12FAI

Russia’s Course in Syria Unchanged

Al-Monitor’s coverage of US and Russian policies toward Syria; the protests in Egypt; and the return of reformist and Islamic chic in Iran.

Lebanese Army soldiers patrol the road leading to Beirut international airport, following the kidnap of a Turkish airlines pilot and his colleague in Beirut, August 9, 2013. A Turkish Airlines pilot and his colleague were abducted in Lebanon on Friday by armed men who forced them from a bus driving from Beirut airport in the early hours of the morning. The Turkish foreign ministry and the airline said they were in close contact with the Lebanese authorities but had no immediate information on who was behind

Turkish Pilots Abducted At Gunpoint in Beirut

Two Turkish Airlines pilots were kidnapped in Beirut early Friday, Aug. 9, to put pressure on the Turkish government to help release nine Shiite Lebanese hostages in Syria since May 2012.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) listens to U.S. President Barack Obama during a joint news conference in the White House Rose Garden in Washington, May 16, 2013. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTXZPB1

Erdogan Looks West

Given Ankara’s misadventures in the Middle East, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s best option to fulfill his vision of a democratic Turkey is to pivot to the West.

Control, Halt, Delete: Gulf States Crack Down on Online Critics

The Gulf states’ heavy-handed response to online criticism was entirely predictable and shows no signs of abating.

Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit (R) waves beside his doctor
Professor Mehmet Haberal at the entrance of the Baskent University
Hospital, in Ankara, June 26, 2002. Officials announced that, Ecevit,
77, will have a detailed check-up. Ecevit, was hospitalized twice in
May for intestinal problems, a broken rib and vascular infection and
has been recovering at home for the past month. REUTERS/str

WS - RTR6VWK

Controversial Turkish Surgeon Odd Man Out in Ergenekon Trial

A famous surgeon’s unexpected release in the Ergenekon trial deepens Turkey’s political fault lines.

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (C) leaves after a wreath-laying ceremony with members of the High Military Council at the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of modern Turkey, in Ankara August 1, 2013. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: MILITARY POLITICS) - RTX126OH

Erdogan Prepares to Face Post-Ramadan Challenges

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be walking on eggshells after Ramadan to balance the popular reaction to the Ergenekon verdicts and Kurdish demands to advance the negotiation process.

Men hold Kurdish flags and a poster of Kurdistan leader Masoud Barazani during a Nowruz celebration organized by Kurdish groups at the seaside town of Rawshe in Beirut, March 21, 2013. REUTERS/Sharif Karim (LEBANON - Tags: RELIGION POLITICS) - RTR3FA2H

Kurdish National Congress Seeks Unity Amid Divisions

The Kurdish National Congress, to be held in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region on Aug. 24, will seek a common agenda for Kurds divided over the war in Syria.

Human rights activists sit behind pictures of Armenian victims at Taksim square in central Istanbul April 24, 2013, during a demonstration to commemorate the 1915 mass killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. REUTERS/Osman Orsal (TURKEY - Tags: ANNIVERSARY POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTXYYD8

Turkey’s Secret 'Ancestry Codes' Track Non-Muslim Minorities

Turkey has been secretly coding its Armenian, Greek, Jewish, Syriac and other non-Muslim minorities since the beginning of the republic in 1923.