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Turkey

July 29, 2026

Ankara 1:48 am

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan greets Iraq Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi upon his arrival in Ankara, July 28, 2026.

Explainer

Erdogan hosts Zaidi, touts ‘historic step’ in Turkey-Iraq energy ties

The Turkish president outlined Ankara’s priorities with the new Iraqi government during the Iraqi leader’s first visit to Turkey: security, energy cooperation and the Development Road.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi speaks during a meeting with US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (not pictured) at the Pentagon on July 14, 2026 in Arlington, Virginia.

Zaidi to meet Erdogan as Turkey-Iraq ties take off, Kurds feel sidelined

The Iraqi prime minister's visits to Ankara and Riyadh underscore Baghdad's push to deepen regional ties as Turkey seeks closer cooperation on energy and security.

Latest News

Analysis

Iran war puts Turkey’s inflation fight, lira under fresh pressure

Vendors sell dry food as people shop by a banner reading " No to Inflation" near the New Mosque area in Istanbul's Eminonu district on Nov. 6, 2018.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Analysis

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

Ozgur Ozel

Halil Karaveli

By Halil Karaveli

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

A worker adjusts the valve of an oil pipe at Khurmala oilfield on the outskirts of the city of Arbil, in Iraq's Kurdistan region December 4, 2013. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS ENERGY) - RTX163IS

Turkey’s Kurdish oil gamble

Turkey’s sale of Iraqi Kurdish crude oil could backfire for Ankara and the Kurdistan Regional Government.

Turkish soldiers arrive to destroy marijuana plants during an operation on June 20, 2013, at Lice in Diyarbakir. AFP PHOTO/STRINGER (Photo credit should read STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images)

Turkey cracks down on drug cartels

Turkey's intense crackdown on narcotics operations is delivering serious blows to criminal enterprises associated with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and European drug networks.

Anti-government protesters gather for a rally in Istanbul's Taksim square June 9, 2013. Turkish protest organisers called for a demonstration on Sunday to keep up pressure on the government to sack those responsible for a violent police crackdown and to abandon plans to redevelop a central Istanbul square. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis (TURKEY - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS) - RTX10HI9

Gezi resistance anniversary recalls impact on Turkey

On the first anniversary of the Gezi revolt, the bottom line is that it failed to transform into a political movement, but did manage to transform Turkey.

Iraqi Kurdish supporters of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) hold flags bearing portraits of jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan during a demonstration in Arbil on April 12, 2014 against the decision by Kurdish authorities to dig a trench along the border with neighboring Syria. The Kurdish autonomous region has backed Kurds in Syria against the extremists and has taken in some 200,000 refugees from the bloody conflict. AFP PHOTO / SAFIN HAMED (Photo credit should read SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)

Rival Kurdish parties battle for power in Syria

A series of tit-for-tat incidents has worsened relations between the Kurdistan Workers Party of Abdullah Ocalan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Massoud Barzani.

Israel's army chief Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi (front) sits before testifying at a state-appointed inquiry into the Israeli naval raid on a Gaza aid flotilla, in Jerusalem, August 11, 2010. Ashkenazi acknowledged on Wednesday that his troops were not ready for the violent resistance encountered when they boarded the Gaza-bound aid ship and ended up killing nine pro-Palestinian activists. REUTERS/Gali Tibbon/Pool (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST MILITARY) - RTR2H8JL

Leviathan gas deal may be catalyst for Israel-Turkey reset

Is the Turkish court’s decision to indict former Israeli army chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi for the Mavi Marmara flotilla raid part of the reconciliatory diplomatic ballet by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, eyeing the “Leviathan” gas field?

Supporters of Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan hold up their mobile phones and wave Turkish flags ahead of his visit in Lanxess Arena in Cologne May 24, 2014. A visit by Erdogan to Cologne on Saturday to address thousands of expatriate Turks threatens to bring Turkey's political tensions to German streets, despite an appeal by Chancellor Angela Merkel for him to adopt a sensitive tone. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay (GERMANY - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR3QNKQ

Erdogan visit riles German government

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan brought his divisive politics to Cologne.

Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev receives Turkey's State Honour Medal from his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul (R) during a ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Ankara November 12, 2013. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX15ABA

Turkey-Azerbaijan pipeline offers alternative for Russian gas

Ankara hopes the new pipeline, which could also carry Iranian natural gas, will break Russia’s stranglehold on natural gas prices.

Erdogan’s dictator defense

Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, responding to critics who label him a “dictator,” can improve his image by giving up practices that generate criticism.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan speaks to supporters during his visit in Cologne May 24, 2014. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay (GERMANY - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3QNX8

Turkey's Erdogan obsession

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's team should see that the hateful "Erdogano-centricity" of which they complain is mostly of Erdogan's making.

A picture taken on May 23, 2013 shows a beat-up and bruised doll diplayed during an exhibition that aims at raising public awareness of child abuse at Tel Avivs Rabin Square, Israel. AFP PHOTO/DAVID BUIMOVITCH (Photo credit should read DAVID BUIMOVITCH/AFP/Getty Images)

Child murders traumatize Turkey

A government proposal to toughen penalties for child abuse has failed to soothe public outrage in Turkey amid a surge in deadly violence against children.

A combination photo of a Turkish riot policeman using tear gas against a woman as people protest against the destruction of trees in a park brought about by a pedestrian project, in Taksim Square in central Istanbul May 28, 2013.In her red cotton summer dress, necklace and white bag slung over her shoulder she might have been floating across the lawn at a garden party; but before her crouches a masked policeman firing teargas spray that sends her long hair billowing upwards. Endlessly shared on social media

Gezi anniversary reminder of Erdogan's nine lives

The one-year anniversary of the Gezi Park protests is another reminder of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's durability despite a series of crises.

Circassian men wearing traditional clothes pose for a photograph in a tea field during the visit of a delegation of diaspora Circassians in Golovinka, near Sochi October 15, 2013. Circassians are a people indigenous to the North Caucasus region, most of whom were scattered across the globe by a 19th century tsarist military campaign that caused the deaths of huge numbers. Many Circassians have called for the killings to be recognised as genocide, and have campaigned against the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, s

Turkey's Circassians jangle Russian nerves

Circassians in Turkey have grown bolder in speaking out about their 19th-century suffering and exile, irritating Russia and straining diaspora organizations.