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Turkey

July 10, 2026

Ankara 5:16 am

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Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey Alparslan Bayraktar speaks during the launch of an offshore energy exploration at the port in Mogadishu on April 10, 2026.

Turkey brokers intra-Somalia talks as federal rifts test Ankara’s influence

Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland and Jubaland states reportedly declined to join the talks, as Ankara is ramping up efforts to shore up support for Somalia’s federal institutions.

Getty Images

Trump 'undecided' on Turkey's F-35s as Congress seeks answers on S-400

Top Democratic lawmakers say the ball is in Ankara’s court on rejoining the US-led F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, but suggest that Turkey offshoring its Russian-made S-400 system won’t be enough.

Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan (R) shakes hands with Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian during his visit in Yerevan on July 19, 2025. (Photo by KAREN MINASYAN / AFP) (Photo by KAREN MINASYAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Feature

Armenia's Pashinyan keeps Iran close while wooing Trump, Turkey and Azerbaijan

As Yerevan pursues normalization with Turkey and Azerbaijan and backs a US-led transport corridor, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is working to reassure an increasingly assertive Iran that its interests won't be threatened.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Latest News

Trump declares MoU with Iran 'over' as Hegseth cancels trip to Israel

U.S. President Donald Trump meets with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (not shown) for bilateral talks at Beştepe Presidential Compound during the NATO Summit on July 08, 2026 in Ankara, Turkey. Leaders from NATO's 32 countries, plus NATO allies like Ukraine, gathered in the Turkish capital to discuss a range of issues involving spending targets, defense industrial production, and support for Ukraine, among other topics. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Explainer

Why Trump bid to lift CAATSA sanctions on Turkey faces complicated path

US President Donald Trump walks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a state arrival ceremony at the Bestepe Presidential Complex for the annual NATO Summit on July 7, 2026 in Ankara, 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

TOPSHOT - Turkish police officers detain protestors during a rally in support of Bogazici University students protesting against the appointment of Melih Bulu, a ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) loyalist, as the new rector of the university, in Istanbul on February 4, 2021. - Students are protesting against the Turkish president's decision last month (January 1) to name party loyalist Melih Bulu to head Istanbul's elite Bogazici University, with many students seeing his appointment as a part of t

Erdogan seizes on student protests to further polarize Turkey

The protests rocking Turkish university campuses are the biggest since the Gezi demonstrations and like them are the product of the president's stubborn refusal to consider popular sentiment.

Turkish President and leader of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during his party's group meeting at the Turkish Grand National Assembly in Ankara on November 11, 2020. - Turkish President promised on November 11, 2020 to adopt painful reforms and threw his full support behind a new economic team installed after his powerful son-in-law resigned. (Photo by Adem ALTAN / AFP) (Photo by ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images)

New page for US, Turkey reads like fantasy

Hope for a reset in Turkish-American ties under the Biden administration will remain unrealistic until Ankara addresses its democratic issues and human rights record.

Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Iyad bin Amin Madani (L), Foreign Ministers Sameh Shoukry of Egypt and Mevlut Cavusoglu of Turkey (R) attend the 13th Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Summit at Istanbul Congress Center (ICC) on April 14, 2016 in Istanbul.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday hosts over 30 heads of state and government from Islamic countries in Istanbul for a major summit aimed at overcoming differences in the Muslim world. / AFP / P

Egyptian-Turkish trade agreement comes under fire

A member of the Egyptian parliament called for the need to reconsider the free trade agreement between Egypt and Turkey signed 15 years ago, claiming that it harms Egyptian interests and favors Turkish exporters.

(From L to R) Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari attend the Africa 2016 forum on February 20, 2016, in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
More than 1,200 delegates including some heads of state will negotiate business agreements for the next two days at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, to attract private sector investments in Africa. / AFP / MOHAMED EL-SHAHED (Photo credit should read MOHAMED EL-SHAHED/AFP via Ge

Nigeria deepens security ties with Egypt to battle Boko Haram

Some observers allege Turkey may be supporting extremist groups in Nigeria.

Riot police stand in formation as unseen Turkish protesters demonstrate against Israel's attack on Gaza outside the Israeli embassy in Ankara on November 21, 2012. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday accused Israel of "ethnic cleansing" in Gaza, saying the Jewish state's air raids could not be considered self-defence. AFP Photo/ADEM ALTAN (Photo credit should read ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel still cool to gestures from Turkey

In a positive, yet cautious signal, Israel has nominated senior diplomat ambassador Irit Lillian as charge d’Affairs to its embassy in Ankara.

Relatives of the victims of the war over Karabakh, gather for a memorial ceremony, at the Yerablur Military Memorial Cemetery in Yerevan, on December 19, 2020. - Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan led, on December 19, 2020, thousands in a march in memory of those killed in a six-week war with Azerbaijan as the Caucasus country began three days of mourning. Pashinyan has been under huge pressure from the opposition to step down after nearly 3,000 Armenians were killed in the clashes with Azerbaijan over

Turkey’s talk of peace with Armenia rings hollow

A Turkey analyst reported that Turkey claims to be ready to reconcile with Armenia if Yerevan is willing to "take a step," but is that likely?

A Turkish soldier stands guard next to a military vehicle during a joint Russian-Turkish patrol in the eastern countryside of the town of Darbasiyah near the border with Turkey in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province on December 7, 2020. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP) (Photo by DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

How Turkey fits in regime-Kurdish showdown in Syria

Some claim that a secret deal between Ankara and Damascus is behind the latest escalation between the Syrian government and the Kurds, but the situation could be more complex than it seems.

A woman gestures as Turkish Police detain activists supporting Bogazici University students protesting against the appointment by the Turkish government of a new rector in Ankara on February 2, 2021. (Photo by Adem ALTAN / AFP) (Photo by ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images)

State Department condemns Turkey's anti-LGBT rhetoric against protesters

Turkey's president and other officials have used inflammatory anti-gay rhetoric to describe the student-led protests in Istanbul.

A man holds his children near their home in a deserted street near the Suleymaniye mosque in Istanbul during a week-end curfew aimed at curbing the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus on December 6, 2020. - Under the new restrictions beginning from December 1, a curfew will be imposed on weekdays from 9:00 pm. to 5:00 am. Over the weekend the lockdown will last from 9:00 pm Friday until 5:00 am on Monday. (Photo by Ozan KOSE / AFP) (Photo by OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images)

Tax injustice worsens in Turkey

Two-thirds of the Turkish government’s tax revenues have come from indirect taxes on consumption, adding to the burden of low- and middle-income groups.

Timur Goksel, former Al-Monitor editor and UN diplomat, dies

Timur Goksel, a former UN diplomat and editor of Al-Monitor’s Turkey Pulse, was best known for his unique contributions to the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon.

People protest in a street of Istanbul on February 2, 2021 after clashes erupt during a demonstration against Turkish President's appointment of a party loyalist to head Istanbul's exclusive Bogazici University at the start of the year. - Turkey has been hit by weeks of rallies across major campuses and the standoff over the rector gained a new dimension when protesters hung a poster near his office depicting Islam's holiest site covered in LGBT imagery last week. (Photo by Bulent Kilic / AFP) (Photo by BUL

Erdogan likens students to terrorists, condemns Bogazici rallies

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan likened protesting students to terrorists in a speech Wednesday, condemning ongoing demonstrations over the appointment of a government-linked rector to Istanbul’s Bogazici University.

Turkish police seize several tons of illegal alcohol

High taxes on liquor have created a market for illicit liquor in Turkey and police are cracking down.