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Turkey

Turkey

July 26, 2026

Ankara 3:05 am

14°C

Ozgur Ozel

Analysis

What challenges await Erdogan’s new rival and Turkey’s new opposition party?

Ousted main opposition leader Ozgur Ozel's bid to challenge Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan depends on surviving a widening legal crackdown and reconciling deep ideological, nationalist and Kurdish divisions within his own coalition.

Halil Karaveli

By Halil Karaveli

Turkey’s main opposition Republican People's Party's (CHP) Ousted party leader Ozgur Ozel waves to supporters from atop a police water cannon vehicle after being forcibly evicted by police from his party’s headquarters on May 24, 2026 in Ankara, Turkey.

Top ally of Turkey’s Erdogan backs state funding for Ozel’s breakaway party

Devlet Bahceli’s suggestion exposes a more nuanced position within the country’s governing alliance over the ongoing legal crackdown against Turkey’s main opposition.

Latest News

Explainer

As Turkey rivalry heats up, Greece to acquire $4B Israeli air defense system

David's Sling.

Turkey to begin surveys for planned northern Cyprus gas pipeline

Turkey's servicemen stand at attention on a Turkish submarine as they participate in the live-fire phase of the Blue Homeland 2026 tactical military exercises in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, in Antalya on April 9, 2026.

Iran's Araghchi reveals Turkey's role in thwarting Kurdish offensive

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi speaks during a joint press conference with his Iraqi counterpart following a meeting in Baghdad on June 28, 2026.

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

Syria's increasingly congested skies

In addition to warplanes over Syria, cruise missiles are now carving out airspace.

Grew up Kurdish, forced to be Turkish, now called Armenian

When loose-talking Turkish officials toss around the word "Armenian" like it's a slur, they incite further hatred toward minorities.

Russian market huge disappointment for Turkey

Turkey’s hopes of replacing European countries as a major food exporter to Russia have been dashed.

Syrian Kurdish leader: Moscow wants to work with us

A senior leader in the PYD is in Washington seeking more military support and expressing ambivalence about Russia’s latest intervention.

Facts mingle with political fantasy in Ankara's Gulenist indictments

An indictment alleging an attempted coup against Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party government follows the party's narrative of a sinister parallel state and its imperialist collaborators.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker welcomes Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan (L) at the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium October 5, 2015. Erdogan mocked European Union overtures for help with its migration crisis during a long-awaited visit to Brussels on Monday that in the end was partly overshadowed by Russia's violation of Turkish airspace near Syria. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir - RTS34DB

Erdogan's EU visit fails to produce results

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tried to use his Brussels visit to enhance his own domestic political clout, but the Europeans were not very keen on helping him.

Armed members of YDG-H (back facing), youth wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), stroll at a street in Silvan, near the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, Turkey, August 17, 2015. The PKK has attacked military targets on a near-daily basis since the Turkish government launched air strikes on rebel camps in northern Iraq on July 25, wrecking a two-year-old ceasefire. REUTERS/Sertac Kayar - RTX1OIE1

Young guns rule their turf in Turkey

Members of the Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement, a youth group linked to the PKK, control the streets by force of arms in some parts of southeastern Turkey.

Erdogan uses refugee issue for his own benefit in EU

EU leaders' focus during Erdogan’s visit to Brussels was on stemming the flow of Syrian refugees, not on his authoritarian and undemocratic ways.

Another Syrian nightmare, courtesy of the Russians

Russian operations are rattling Turkey as militants fleeing Syria infiltrate Turkey.

Russian intervention throws a wrench into Turkey's Syria plans

Russian air superiority in Syria has destroyed Ankara's hopes for a safe zone in the north and "Syria without Assad."

New gas fields add more heat to already simmering Mediterranean

The recent gas discoveries in the eastern Mediterranean Sea have given the concerned countries, mainly Egypt, Turkey and Israel, a new urgency in settling their maritime border disputes.

An immigrant himself, Chobani yogurt founder becomes icon for refugees

A Kurdish immigrant from Turkey, Hamdi Ulukaya became the founder and CEO of the top-selling Greek yogurt in the United States and has now pledged to donate much of his wealth to refugees.