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

Turkey

Turkey

September 14, 2026

Ankara 9:46 am

20°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

Iran's Ambassador to the U.N. Mohammad Khazaee speaks before the U.N. Security Council at the U.N. Headquarters in New York, June 9, 2010. The U.N. Security Council imposed a fourth round of sanctions on a defiant Iran on Wednesday over a nuclear program the West suspects is aimed at developing the means to build atom bombs. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR2EY9Q

Iran’s UN Ambassador Welcomes Geneva II Conference on Syria

Mohammad Khazaee, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, discusses Iran’s position on Syria in an email interview with Al-Monitor.

Selahattin Demirtas, co-chairman of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party, greets his supporters during a rally to celebrate the spring festival of Newroz in Istanbul March 17, 2013. A picture of imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan is seen in the background. REUTERS/Murad Sezer (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3F4BY

Turkish-Kurdish Leader Cautious, Hopeful on Peace Plan

Ahmet Turk, a pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party member, draws attention to a new legislation bringing municipalities under direct tutelage of governors, and argues that is in direct contradiction to the government’s Kurdish initiative.

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan makes a speech during the Global Alcohol Policy Symposium in Istanbul April 26, 2013. REUTERS/Murad Sezer (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS HEALTH) - RTXZ138

AKP Wages Jihad Against Alcohol in Turkey

The AKP’s draft law of aggressive alcohol restrictions aims not only to engineer an Islamic society but to prevent possible losses in its conservative electoral base.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul waves as he visits the bomb scene on May 16, 2013 during the funerals of the victims of a car bomb which went off on May 11 at Reyhanli in Hatay just a few kilometres from the main border crossing into Syria. The death toll in twin car bombings in a Turkish town near the Syrian border has increased to 50 after another body was recovered and a victim died in hospital, the health minister was quoted as saying on May 14. The attacks also provoked a backlash against Syrian refugee

Turkey’s Syria Policy: No Easy Answers

Turkey’s Syria policies were not wrong, but poorly presented.

Workers attend a training class at LUKOIL training centre in the southern city of Basra December 25, 2012. Russian oil firm LUKOIL has opened its first training centre located in al-Rumaila in the southern city of Basra to develop skilled staff to work in its oilfield. The firm, Russia's second-largest crude producer, won a contract to develop the West Qurna-2 oilfield. Picture taken December 25, 2012. REUTERS/Atef Hassan (IRAQ - Tags: ENERGY BUSINESS) - RTR3C2HM

Iraq to Simplify Visa Procedures For Foreign Oil Workers

The Iraqi government has announced that it will simplify entry-visa and residency-permit procedures for foreign oil workers, following complaints that the current lengthy process deters investors.

Turkish-Kurdish woman waves a PKK flag during a demonstration in support of Syrian Kurds, in the southeastern Turkish town of Nusaybin, near the Turkish-Syrian border, January, 26, 2013. Sitting across the table from top Turkish officials, jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan wields the power to silence guns across southeastern Turkey which have killed more than 40,000 people in a three decade-old insurgency. Reviled by most Turks and held in virtual isolation since his 1999 capture, the Kurdistan Wo

Is Gulen Movement Against Peace With PKK?

The Gulen Movement in Turkey is not against the peace process with the PKK, but is not on its bandwagon either.

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

Washington Relaxed About Prospect Of Erdogan Visit to Gaza

US President Barack Obama seems confident that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan won’t upset the Turkey-Israel rapprochement.

Riot police surround a protester during a protest against Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and his government's policy on Syria, in Ankara May 18, 2013. Erdogan said on Friday it would be up to the U.N. Security Council to decide whether to establish a no-fly zone inside Syria and said he backed the involvement of Russia and China in planned peace talks. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTXZROX

Vulgarity on Rise in Turkish Political Discourse

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was the first to place CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu in the same boat of the Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.

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

Erdogan’s ‘Plan C’ Under Way

If "plan C" means a constitutional process driven by Turkey's ruling AKP, yet marred by high tension, two interesting scenarios emerge.

A handout photograph distributed by Syria's national news agency SANA, on May 20,2013, shows a vehicle which it says is an Israeli military vehicle being used by rebel fighters in Qusair near Homs city. Syrian television also showed footage of what it said was an Israeli military Jeep which it said the rebels had been using and which showed the extent of their foreign backing. An Israeli military spokeswoman said the vehicle was decommissioned a decade ago and dismissed the footage as "poor propaganda". SAN

As Assad’s Forces Take Control Of Qusair, What Comes Next?

Now that the Syrian regime’s forces control half of the city of Qusair near Lebanon’s northern border, the balance seems to once again be shifting in the Syrian conflict.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) answers a question as he and U.S. President Barack Obama hold a joint news conference in the White House Rose Garden in Washington, May 16, 2013. REUTERS/Jason Reed (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTXZPBV

Erdogan Paints Himself Into Corner over Gaza

After his meeting with US President Barack Obama, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan cannot seem to win on Gaza.

Kurds take part in a demonstration calling for the release of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan, in Strasbourg, eastern France, February 16, 2013. REUTERS/Jean-Marc Loos (FRANCE - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS) - RTR3DVAE

Iraqi Kurds Call For TurkeyTo Release Ocalan

Iraqi Kurds have launched a petition campaign calling on Turkey for the release of imprisoned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan.