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Turkey

Turkey

May 18, 2026

Ankara 3:47 am

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Ships navigate the Bosphorus Strait on May 02, 2026 in Istanbul, Turkey. Since the outbreak of the US-Israeli war against Iran, forcing the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and together with the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, global shipping routes have been severely impacted. Soaring shipping costs, lengthening delivery times and less efficient routes have seen increased pressure on energy markets and supply chains worldwide. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

Analysis

Why Turkey sees opportunity in Hormuz crisis to boost Middle Corridor

Ankara seeks to exploit transport disruptions from the Iran, Ukraine wars to push the corridor, but high costs, logistical bottlenecks and South Caucasus politics pose obstacles.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Mazloum Kobane, commander-in-chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), speaks during the pan-Kurdish "Unity and Consensus" conference in Qamishli in northeastern Syria on April 26, 2025.

Interview

Syrian Kurdish commander Kobane says Turkey visit ‘in the making,’ Ocalan meeting possible

The SDF commander-in-chief reflected on a fragile integration deal with Damascus, growing Kurdish backlash and ongoing talks with Turkey as questions mount over Rojava’s political future.

Mazloum Kobane

Mazloum Kobane

SDF commander in chief

Latest News

Turkey, Armenia to launch direct trade in normalization push: What to know

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, and Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan shake hands before a meeting at Prague Castle in Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022.

New Turkey maritime draft bill fuels EastMed tensions with Greece, Cyprus

The helicopter of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lands on Abdulhamid Han drill ship, the fourth built by Turkey, in Mersin on Aug. 9, 2022, before being sent for gas exploration to an undisputed area in the Mediterranean Sea, south of Gazipasa.

Turkey's border reopening unlocks new sphere of influence in Syria

Turkish Red Crescent's cars and trucks cross the Turkish border as they leave the Syrian city of Tel Abyad on Oct. 19, 2019, in Akcakale, Turkey.

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

Supporters of Zaman daily newspaper wave a giant Turkish flag outside Istanbul's courthouse during a protest against the hugely controversial raids targeting Zaman newspaper and television channel linked to US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, on December 18, 2014 in Istanbul. Twelve suspects, including the editor-in-chief of daily Zaman, Ekrem Dumanli, and the head of the Samanyolu Media Group, Hidayet Karaca, were sent to court with demands for their arrest, while probation was sought for the other fou

Turkey’s war within the judiciary deepens

There is no clear good versus evil in Turkey’s ongoing war within its judiciary, but it is clear that it will bring more evil than good to Turkey’s troubled democracy.

Kurdish refugees from the Syrian town of Kobani stand in front of their tent at a refugee camp in the border town of Suruc, Sanliurfa province January 31, 2015. The United States and its allies carried out 27 air strikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria since early Friday, the Combined Joint Task Force leading the operation reported on Saturday. Ten of the 17 strikes in Iraq hit near the oil city of Kirkuk, it said. In Syria, Islamic State targets near the border town of Kobani were attacke

Iraq, Syria crises cost billions for Turkey

The amount Turkey has paid for the Iraqi and Syrian crises in the last four years has reached over $16 billion.

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan makes a speech during a Peace Summit ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Gallipoli, in Istanbul April 23, 2015. Thousands of Australians, New Zealanders and Turks gathered on Turkey's Gallipoli peninsula on Thursday ahead of the 100th anniversary of one of the bloodiest battles of World War One. A century ago, thousands of soldiers from the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) struggled ashore on a narrow beach at Gallipoli at the start of an ill-fated

Is Erdogan signaling end of secularism in Turkey?

The Religious Affairs Directorate has become the center of the election campaign in Turkey, causing further social discord.

Three F-35 Joint Strike Fighters (rear to front) AF-2, AF-3 and AF-4, can be seen flying over Edwards Air Force Base in this December 10, 2011 handout photo provided by Lockheed Martin. Lockheed Martin Corp on February 25, 2013 said there was no evidence that a lithium-ion battery contributed to a Feb. 14 incident that caused smoke in the cockpit of an F-35 test plane. Lockheed spokesman Michael Rein said initial reviews indicated a potential failure in the plane's cooling system, which had been removed fro

Will the F-35 change Middle East warfare?

Once it appears in Middle Eastern skies, the F-35 fighter aircraft may alter how wars are waged in the region.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin (R) attends a commemoration ceremony marking the centenary of the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in Yerevan, Armenia, April 24, 2015. Armenia's president said on Wednesday he was ready to normalize relations with Turkey, two months after he withdrew peace accords from parliament, blaming a Turkish lack of political will to end 100 years of hostility. Speaking ahead of Friday's centenary of the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks which is at the heart of t

Russia's recognition of Armenian genocide strains ties with Turkey

Moscow’s acknowledgment of the Armenian genocide and President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Yerevan for the genocide commemorations shake Turkish-Russian ties.

Turkish Cypriot politician Mustafa Akinci delivers a speech to supporters after his election victory in Nicosia, April 26, 2015. Mustafa Akinci, standing as an independent, won 60.3 percent of the votes, according to figures provided by the election commission. His rival was incumbent president Dervis Eroglu, a conservative elected five years ago. REUTERS/Yiannis Kourtoglou - RTX1ADHX

Northern Cyprus demands respect from Turkey

The new Turkish Cypriot president, Mustafa Akinci, infuriated Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as soon as he was elected by calling for a dignified relationship between Turkish Cypriots and Ankara.

A military veteran walks among gravestones at the Pieta Military Cemetery before a service to mark the 100th anniversary of ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) landings at Galllipoli, in Pieta, Malta, April 25, 2015. The Gallipoli campaign has resonated through generations, which have mourned the thousands of soldiers from the ANZAC cut down by machinegun and artillery fire as they struggled ashore on a narrow beach. The fighting would eventually claim more than 130,000 lives, 87,000 of them on th

In Turkey's battle of the G-words, Gallipoli wins

The damage of the 1915 centennial is already done to Turkey’s international standing and only time may heal it.

Women protest against the government and violence against women, a day after International Women's Day in Istanbul March 9, 2014. On March 8 activists around the globe celebrate International Women's Day, which dates back to the beginning of the 20th Century and has been observed by the United Nations since 1975. The UN writes that it is an occasion to commemorate achievements in women's rights and to call for further change. REUTERS/Osman Orsal (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3GB8T

Turks protest prison term for woman who killed her rapist

A Turkish woman who murdered and beheaded her rapist has been sentenced to life in prison, prompting activists to decry the Turkish justice system, which so often offers leniency to men and harshly punishes women for the same crimes.

Co-leaders of the pro-Kurdish left-wing Peoples' Democracy Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtas (C) attends a rally in front of the ruins of Surp Sarkis (Saint Sarkis) Armenian church in Diyarbakir, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 1915 mass killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire on April 24, 2015. Armenians demand that Turkey regognizes the genocide of 1,5 million of their kin killed between 1915 and 1917 by the Ottoman Empire, Turkey's predecessor. In rejecting the genocide label, Turkey says be

Kurds pay respects to Armenians

Most of the massacres during the Armenian genocide were carried out in today's southeastern Turkey, often by Kurdish militias, but today Kurds commemorate the genocide in Diyarbakir.

A man tries to get connected to the youtube web site with his tablet at a cafe in Istanbul March 27, 2014. The Turkish telecoms authority TIB said on Thursday it had taken an "administrative measure" against YouTube, a week after it blocked access to microblogging site Twitter. REUTERS/Osman Orsal (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY) - RTR3IUSP

'Unnatural' porn becomes ticket to jail in Turkey

The Constitutional Court’s decision to ban pornography featuring “unnatural sexual behavior” has confounded Turkey and provoked average people to speak out about sex.

The Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa mosque are seen in background as an Israeli flag flutters from atop a home of Jewish settlers in Silwan, a mostly Palestinian district abutting the Old City, November 3, 2014. For months, the streets of mainly Arab East Jerusalem, in the shadow of the Old City but where tourists seldom venture, have been ablaze, with daily clashes between armed Israeli police and Palestinians throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails.The roots of the unrest are many: from the killing in July of a

Turkish pilgrims to Jerusalem face backlash

Turkey’s Department of Religious Affairs elicited protests from an unexpected quarter when it added Jerusalem to its Umrah pilgrimage.

A supporter greets Turkish Cypriot politician Mustafa Akinci after the presidential elections in Nicosia April 19, 2015. Akinci will move to a second round of leadership elections in north Cyprus after a vote on Sunday failed to produce a clear winner. REUTERS/Yiannis Kourtoglou - RTR4XXFR

Turkish Cypriot presidential candidate brings hope for unity

Former Nicosia Mayor Nicosia Mustafa Akinci, if elected president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, could open the way to peace on the divided island.