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Turkey

Turkey

May 19, 2026

Ankara 1:12 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

caretta UNDP Tahsin Ceylan.jpg

Turkey's threatened sea turtles

An AKP-affiliated developer's privatization attempts on a beach preserved for endangered sea turtles has turned Dalyan’s residents into environmental activists.

Kurdish people clash with Turkish police on December 29, 2014, at Cizre in Sirnak. Tensions ran high in the southeastern town of Cizre early on December 27 following armed clashes between members of the Patriotic Revolutionist Youth Movement (YDG-H), an affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and Huda-Par, a Kurdish Sunni Islamist party. AFP PHOTO/ILYAS AKENGIN (Photo credit should read ILYAS AKENGIN/AFP/Getty Images)

Turkey's AKP pits Kurd against Kurd

Attempts by the leaders of Turkey's ruling party to cast a Kurdish Islamist party as an alternative to the PKK are raising serious questions and feeding old rivalries.

(From L to R) Republican People's Party (CHP) MPs Riza Turmen, Osman Koruturk, Levent Gok, Erdal Aksunger and Emre Koprulu attend a news conference in Ankara January 5, 2015. A Turkish parliamentary commission voted on Monday not to send four former ministers accused in a corruption investigation to the Supreme Court for trial, effectively backing President Tayyip Erdogan after a scandal that had rattled his inner circle. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS CRIME LAW) - RTR4K4TW

Is the AKP shielding former ministers from corruption charges?

A Turkish parliamentary inquiry commission has decided not to put former government ministers on trial for corruption.

Russia and the Kurds

Russia balances its relationships with various Kurdish groups with its support for the states the Kurds live under.

Women walk as they shout slogans during a rally calling for gender equality, two days after International Women's Day, in Istanbul March 10, 2013. REUTERS/Osman Orsal (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3ET3V

Turkish women receive mixed messages on work-life balance

Officials from Turkey's Justice and Development Party have made a habit of issuing controversial social edicts to women that don't apply to their wives and daughters.

Airport staff stand next to an EgyptAir plane on the runway at Cairo Airport, September 5, 2013. The ongoing political crisis in Egypt has hit the once vibrant tourism industry hard, devastating a critical part of the country's economy. And with visitors scared away by civil strife in the aftermath of the ouster of President Mohamed Mursi, Egypt's national airliner, EgyptAir has been hit hard by the tourism slowdown. The airline has taken the brunt of losses in the tourism sector, losing billions of pounds

Cairo imposes new restrictions on travelers

Egyptian authorities have implemented new measures to restrict the entry of foreigners and to prevent Egyptians from traveling to politically unfriendly countries like Qatar and Turkey.

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan speaks to the Libyan people on the 80th anniversary of the martyrdom of Libyan resistance hero Omar al-Mukhtar, near the shrine of his burial place in Benghazi September 16, 2011. Hundreds of Libyans joined Erdogan in prayer on Friday in Tripoli, heaping praise on him for backing the revolt against Muammar Gaddafi. The Turkish prime minister, who is promoting Ankara's blend of Islam and democracy as a model for North African states, hailed Libya's revolution by invokin

Political missteps in Libya cause Turkey's economy to stumble

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the AKP government's backing of the Muslim Brotherhood in Libya is inflicting billions of dollars of economic losses on Turkey and eroding its political influence in Libya and Saharan Africa.

Syriac Christians from Turkey and Syria attend a mass at the Mort Shmuni Syriac Orthodox Church in the town of Midyat, in Mardin province of southeast Turkey February 2, 2014. Despite the empty streets of Midyat, the historical Mort Shmuni Syriac Orthodox Church is overcrowded with a community of three hundred people, mostly children. For longer than two years, not only the native Turkish Christian citizens of Midyat, but also the Syriac families escaping the bloody war in Syria just across the border are j

Turkey allows building of first new church in a century

Syriac Christians, who speak the language of Jesus, will finally have a church in Istanbul, but why now?

A Turkish Air Force F16 jet fighter takes off from an air base during a military exercise in Bandirma, Balikesir province April 9, 2010. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: MILITARY) - RTR2CLMR

Turkish, Greek warplanes tangle in mock dogfights over Aegean

The Aegean Sea overheated in 2014 because of frequent mock dogfights between Greek and Turkish warplanes, which require serious diplomacy and confidence-building measures to calm down.

An anti-government protester is detained by riot policemen during a demonstration in Ankara March 12, 2014. Turkish police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse a crowd of several thousand demonstrators in Ankara's central Kizilay square on Wednesday in a protest triggered by the death of a teenager wounded in street clashes last summer. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3GRAH

Turkey's new legal definitions lead to increase in arrests

A new legal provision to facilitate police action against government opponents in Turkey has victimized scores of people in a short period of time.

A boy holds the Kurdish PKK youth organization flag during the funeral of three Kurdish fighters killed during clashes against Islamic State in Syrian town of Kobani, at a cemetery in the southeastern town of Suruc, Sanliurfa province October 24, 2014. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach (TURKEY - Tags: MILITARY CONFLICT POLITICS CIVIL UNREST TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR4BHCQ

Turkey's internal Kurdish tensions flare

Deep-rooted strains between secular-nationalist Kurds and Islamist Kurds may reignite in the wake of the civil war in Iraq and Syria.

Tourists from Kazakhstan and Russia shop at a store at the Spice market, also known as the Egyptian Bazaar, in Istanbul August 23, 2013. The number of foreign visitors arriving in Turkey grew at its slowest pace for eight months in July, as the impact of anti-government protests and the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan took their toll, data showed on Friday. Foreign arrivals rose 0.48 percent year-on-year last month to 4.59 million people, according to the Tourism Ministry figures, the lowest rise since Nove

Russian crisis worries Turkish businesses

Hopes that Western sanctions against Moscow would benefit Turkey appear to have been premature.