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Turkey

Turkey

July 31, 2026

Ankara 1:46 pm

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A demonstrator carries a CHP flag during a protest in Izmir, Turkey, on May 24, 2026.

Explainer

What’s behind Turkey’s latest wave of arrests against opposition mayors?

The operations come as Ozgur Ozel’s newly formed party gains momentum.

A Saudi navy ship is pictured docked at King Faisal navy base in Jeddah before the departure of a team to Port Sudan to help with the evacuation efforts of people fleeing Sudan, on April 29, 2023.

Turkey, Pakistan among 14 countries backing Saudi Arabia's anti-Houthi Red Sea alliance

Riyadh won political backing from 14 countries for its proposed maritime defense coalition, but members have yet to commit to joining as Washington weighs its position.

Erdogan and Aoun

Turkey ready to participate in post-UNIFIL force in Lebanon, Erdogan tells Aoun

Aoun paid a one-day visit to Ankara amid Lebanon's push to secure an Israeli withdrawal and end the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Latest News

Explainer

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

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

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

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.

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

Policemen secure a police compound in Ankara September 20, 2013. The police compound was struck by three rockets on Friday, Interior Minister Muammer Guler said. Two buildings belonging to the national police directorate in the district of Dikmen were hit, but no one was hurt, Guler said. A third rocket fell into the grounds. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS CRIME LAW) - RTX13STZ

Attack on Ankara Police Station Leads to New Questions for AKP

An attack on police headquarters further deepens mutual suspicions between anti and pro-AKP Turks.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin (L) and Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (2nd R), with Foreign Ministers Sergei Lavrov of Russia (2nd L) and Ahmet Davutoglu of Turkey (R) in the background, applaud during a signing ceremony in Istanbul December 3, 2012. REUTERS/Murad Sezer (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3B64Z

Russia Rescues Turkey From Syrian Chemical Threat

The accord to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons has marginalized Ankara’s Syria policy while removing the threat against Turkey.

People gather at a site hit by what activists said was missiles fired by a Syrian Air Force fighter jet from forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, at the souk of Azaz, north of Aleppo, January 13, 2013. REUTERS/Zain Karam (SYRIA - Tags: CONFLICT TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR3CEBT

Turkey’s Syria Nightmare Goes From Bad to Worse

Al-Qaeda-affiliated groups fighting the Syrian government are setting up camp on Syria’s border.

Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al Faisal (L) talks with Qatar Foreign Minister Khalid Al Attiya following their meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and members of the Arab Peace Initiative at the United States Embassy in Paris, September 8, 2013. REUTERS/Susan Walsh/Pool (FRANCE - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX13CWG

US-Russia Syria Deal Affects Saudi Regional Strategy

The US-Russia deal on Syria chemical weapons gives momentum to possible settlement and may mean changes for regional players.

Ferhat Savun aged 11, works on his homework in his home in town of Cizre in Sirnak province, near the border with Syria March 23, 2013. Turkey's fledgling peace process with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group is all over the headlines. After three decades of war, 40,000 deaths and a devastating impact on the local economy, everybody seems ready for peace. Pro-Kurdish politicians are focused on boosting minority rights and stronger local government for the Kurds, who make up about 20 percent o

PKK's Kurdish Education Demands Spark Debate in Turkey

Turkey continues to fear that education in languages other than Turkish will divide the nation, despite a growing demand for mother-tongue instruction and regional success stories.

Protesters gather in front of the office of the Agos newspaper during a demonstration in Istanbul January 19, 2009, to mark the second anniversary of the killing of Turkish Armenian editor Hrant Dink. REUTERS/Osman Orsal (TURKEY) - RTR23LJK

Family Boycotts Retrial for Murder Of Turkish-Armenian Journalist

The family of Hrant Dink issues an open letter of indignation after an appeals court decision that his case be reviewed, six years after the murder.

Mariam Aborkeek mixes plants with olive oil for her "Desert Daughter" soap in the Bedouin village of Tel Sheva, near the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, February 11, 2013. The cosmetics line, set up in 2005, is the brainchild of Aborkeek, a Bedouin. Brought up by the female members of her family, Aborkeek said she decided to share her Bedouin beauty secrets by transforming them into a variety of lotions and cosmetic products, using ingredients like desert melon, cumin, and bitter apple. Picture taken Fe

Israeli Job Market Closed To Arab Women Graduates

The Israeli economy loses an estimated NIS 30 billion annually because most Arabs are not being employed.

A woman hugs a tree in silence during a protest at Kugulu park in central Ankara June 18, 2013. Overnight in Ankara, riot police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse hundreds of protesters who had gathered in and around the government quarter of Kizilay. But in stark contrast to the recent fierce clashes in several cities, dozens of protesters merely stood in silence in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, inspired by a man who lit up social media by doing just that for eight hours in Istanbul's Taksim Square

Erdogan Tells Student Protesters To 'Go and Live in Forest'

Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan suggests university students protesting the construction of a road, which requires the cutting of 3,000 trees, should “go and live in a forest."

A demonstrator gestures as he stands behind burning barricades during a protest in the Tuzlucayir neighbourhood of Ankara September 9, 2013. Billed as a symbol of peace between two faiths, a new place of worship has turned Tuzlucayir, a poor suburb of Ankara, into a battleground and exposed wider sectarian tensions within Turkey. The project's blueprint envisages a Sunni mosque rising side by side with a new cemevi, or assembly house, to be used by Alevis, Turkey's biggest religious minority. But with its c

Is Turkey, After Gezi Protests, On Path to Democratization?

The democratization package to be proposed by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyep Erdogan may address some of the concerns of Turkish citizens.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (R) walks with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (C) and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius after a meeting regarding Syria, at the Quai d'Orsay in Paris September 16, 2013. The United States, Britain, France and Russia agree Syria must face consequences if it does not fully comply with a U.N. resolution to ensure a handover of its chemical weapons, Kerry said on Monday. REUTERS/Larry Downing (FRANCE - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTX13N9S

Davutoglu: Shooting Down of Helicopter 'Punishment' for Syria

Turkey’s frustration with the Damascus regime going unpunished, even for using chemical weapons, played a major role in shooting down a Syrian helicopter.

A tank and helicopters that belonged to the Syrian Army are seen at the Minnig military airport after it was seized by rebels, August 11, 2013. Syrian rebels captured the main military airport near the border with Turkey on August 6, consolidating their hold on a key supply route north of the city of Aleppo, opposition activists said. REUTERS/Mahmoud Hassano (SYRIA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST MILITARY TRANSPORT CONFLICT) - RTX12HMK

Turkey Should Shut Down Jihadists on Border

Turkey's shooting down of a Syrian helicopter that violated its airspace on Sept. 16 should provoke a clampdown on all border activity.

Members of Hamas security forces pray before a rally calling on Egyptian authorities to open the Rafah border crossing, at the crossing in the southern Gaza Strip September 17, 2013. Cairo closed the Rafah crossing, Gaza's main window to the world, completely last week after assailants crashed two explosive-laden cars into a security building adjacent to the border zone, killing six Egyptian soldiers. Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesman for the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, said 1,000 patients a month required med

Hamas Shuts Down Egypt Center in Gaza

The closing of the center reflects a further deterioration in Hamas-Egypt ties.