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Turkey

Turkey

June 16, 2026

Ankara 5:14 am

16°C

Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan attends the NATO Foreign Ministers' meeting in Helsingborg, Sweden, on May 22, 2026.

Turkey’s Fidan heads to Moscow as S-400 sanctions issue returns to fore

The visit comes weeks before Turkey hosts NATO leaders, on the sidelines of which Ankara hopes to reach a deal with Washington over CAATSA sanctions over its purchase of Russian S-400s.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan received Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Turkish House in New York on Sept. 19, 2023.

Analysis

Erdogan-Netanyahu war of words signals deeper rivalry for regional influence

The latest Erdogan-Netanyahu clash underscored how Turkey-Israel tensions have grown beyond the Palestinian issue and into a wider regional rivalry spanning Syria, Lebanon, Iran and the eastern Mediterranean.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Yasin AKGUL / AFP via Getty Images

Feature

Turkey’s World Cup return clouded by politics, dawn kickoffs

Turkey finally has the World Cup moment it waited 24 years for, but much of the country will either be asleep for it or arguing over efforts to claim it.

Ezgi Akin

In Ankara, reporting on diplomacy, EU-Turkey ties, NATO

Latest News

Explainer

Turkey slams France-Cyprus military pact as East Med rivalries deepen

Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides (2nd L) and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron (C) review the honor guard at the Presidential Palace in Nicosia on April 23, 2026, ahead of a meeting on the sidelines of a European summit.

Analysis

As Trump admin drops Halkbank case, S-400 last big hurdle in US-Turkey ties

Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile launching system is displayed at the exposition field in Kubinka Patriot Park outside Moscow on Aug. 22, 2017 during the first day of the International Military-Technical Forum Army-2017.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

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 Free Syrian Army fighter goes down a ladder near Aleppo's historical citadel in the old city of Aleppo August 23, 2013. REUTERS/Muzaffar Salman (SYRIA - Tags: CONFLICT POLITICS) - RTX12UCK

Turkey's Foreign Policy: Slip-Up or Success?

While Turkey boasts foreign policy successes in the Middle East, these measures could be more accurately described as blunders.

Turkey's Rising Middle Class Drives Demand for Islamic Fashion

A new, wealthy and religiously conservative middle class has emerged with an expensive taste for style and fashion.

People take part in a commemoration ceremony to mark the anniversary of the 1915 mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire at the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan, April 24, 2011. Armenia, backed by many historians and world parliaments, says some 1.5 million Armenians died during the upheavals that accompanied World War I and labels the events as genocide. On the other hand, Ankara rejects the term genocide and says large numbers of both Christian Armenians and Muslim Turks were killed. REUTE

Egyptian Twitter Post Pushes Turkey's Buttons

A Twitter message that suggested the interim government in Cairo might recognize the Armenian genocide exposed a raw nerve in Turkey.

Protesters, who are against Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi, hold a poster featuring the head of Egypt's armed forces General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Tahrir Square in Cairo July 3, 2013. Egypt's armed forces overthrew elected Islamist President Mohamed Mursi on Wednesday and announced a political transition with the support of a wide range of political, religious and youth leaders. A statement published in Mursi's name on his official Facebook page after al-Sisi's speech said the measures announced amounte

Is Hypernationalism The New Islamism?

Islamism in the Middle East may have met a match in the hypernationalism taking hold in Egypt and Syria.

Pedestrians look at billboards with the pictures of Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (R) and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu (L), in Ankara March 25, 2013. Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday an Israeli apology for the 2010 deaths of nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists that was brokered by U.S. President Barack Obama met Turkey's conditions and signalled its growing regional clout. The billboard reads, "Israel apologized to Turkey. Dear Prime Minister (Erdogan), We ar

Erdogan’s Blaming of Israel Might be Funny If It Weren’t So Sad

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel of being behind the Egyptian military coup only to be met with strong criticism from Egypt, Israel and the United States.

Israel's armed forces Chief Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi (L) and Turkey's Chief of General Staff General Ilker Basbug pose prior to a meeting in Ankara March 15, 2010. Ashkenazi is in Turkey to attend the Global Terrorism and International Cooperation Symposium. REUTERS/Turkish Army Press Office/Handout (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY) FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - RTR2BOE7

Turkish-Israeli Military Ties Damaged by Ergenekon Trial

The Ergenekon trial has made it clear to the decision-makers in Jerusalem that the Turkish army will no longer be able to serve as a bridge between the two countries.

A Turkish flag flutters near the monument of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk at Taksim Square in Istanbul June 24, 2013. REUTERS/Marko Djurica (TURKEY - Tags: SOCIETY) - RTX10Z87

Who Poisoned Former Turkish President Ozal?

Political disputes between the Kemalist army and democratically elected political parties once were settled heavy-handedly, and a recent investigation into Turgut Ozal's death ruled that he was poisoned.

Gay rights activists carry a rainbow flag during a protest at Tunel Square in Istanbul June 23, 2013. REUTERS/Marko Djurica (TURKEY - Tags: CIVIL UNREST SOCIETY) - RTX10Y6V

Gay in the Turkish Army

One gay man's experience with the Turkish military highlights anew the need for legal protections for the rights of LGBT individuals in Turkey.

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan gestures as he gives a speech during a meeting at his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) party headquarters in Ankara, on August 20, 2013. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel on August 20 of being behind the military-backed ouster of Egypt's Islamist president Mohamed Morsi last month. AFP PHOTO / ADEM ALTAN (Photo credit should read ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Erdogan’s Anti-Israel Remarks Reflect Broader Anti-Semitism in Turkey

While anti-Semitism has been present in Turkey since the 1930s, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's latest anti-Israel remarks bring Turkey's long-standing xenophobia out in the open.

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (L) checks his watch as he attends a wreath-laying ceremony with Chief of Staff General Necdet Ozel (R) at the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of modern Turkey, in Ankara August 1, 2013. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: MILITARY POLITICS) - RTX126WW

Erdogan’s Israel Remark Brings Condemnation, Ridicule

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses Israel of being behind the coup in Egypt, thus exposing himself again to criticism and ridicule.

Organization of Islamic Cooperation Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu speaks during the U.S.-Islamic World Forum in Doha June 9, 2013. REUTERS/Mohammed Dabbous (QATAR - Tags: RELIGION POLITICS) - RTX10HR0

AKP Blasts Turkish Leader Of International Islamic Group

Despite calls for his resignation by AKP officials, Organization of Islamic Cooperation Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu decided to stay in office until his term expires in four months.

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary-general of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (L) speaks with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Secretary-General Abdul-Rahman al-Attiyah before a news conference in Riyadh March 28, 2011. Qatar's support for the rebel Libyan National Council shows the group is the only legitimate representative of the Libyan people, the secretary general of the political and economic bloc of Gulf countries said on Monday. REUTERS/Fahad Shadeed (SAUDI ARABIA - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR2K

Turkish Leader Lashes Out on Twitter

Turkey is engaged in a covert war with Riyadh over the Turkish origins of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation's chief.