Turkey - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Turkey

Turkey

September 8, 2026

Ankara 8:38 am

16°C

Leyla Borovali at her studio overlooking the Aegean

Culture

Turkish ceramicist Leyla Borovali shapes Aegean heritage into clay

Named by AD Middle East as one of 11 artists from Turkey to know, Leyla Borovali belongs to a new generation building on a ceramic tradition shaped by figures from Fureya Koral and Alev Ebuzziya Siesbye to Elif Uras.

TAI Hurjet

Analysis

With Hurjet test, Turkey seeks defense dominance beyond drones

With export revenue from the supersonic crewed aircraft, Ankara plans to fund next-generation projects and gain strategic diplomatic and military leverage across NATO and the region.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Ibrahim Kalin, Turkish presidential spokesperson, gives a press conference at the Presidential Complex, Ankara, May 25, 2022.

Turkey and Greece's intelligence chiefs hold rare talks: What to know

The meeting comes after Turkey recently warned Greece over what it called an arms race in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

US sanctions Turkey-based bank over Iran ties

The Treasury Department said Golden Global Bank was facilitating transactions for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Latest News

Israel, Greece sign $3.5 billion air-defense deal: What to know

Mecca Alliance

Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan set Mecca Alliance into motion

Mecca Alliance

Analysis

Why Turkey welcomes Israel-Syria talks despite mounting red lines

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrive for a joint press conference following their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Feb. 4, 2025.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Culture

In divided Cyprus, FC Barcelona youth camp sparks new dispute: What to know

Barcelona

Samuel Wendel

Senior Analyst, Middle East Business & Tech

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

Grapfics and numbers of trade markets are screened on the floor of the Borsa Istanbul on May 22, 2018 in Istanbul. - Turkey's embattled currency, the Lira, on May 22 hit new historic lows against the US dollar after Fitch ratings agency expressed concerns over the central bank's independence in the wake of comments by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (Photo by OZAN KOSE / AFP) (Photo credit should read OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images)

Former Halkbank executive resigns as head of Istanbul stock exchange

Borsa Istanbul CEO Mehmet Hakan Atilla stepped down Monday in a move possibly linked with the impending US trial of Turkey’s Halkbank, where he was convicted of helping Iran skirt US sanctions.

Is Ankara on mission impossible over S-400 conundrum?

Confusion reigns in Ankara on how to manage the S-400 crisis, as pressure to satisfy Moscow along with Washington makes it a tall, if not impossible, order.

Yazidis refugees carry their belongings on January 3, 2017 in Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey as they change their refugee camp and move to Midyat, further south.
The population of Yazidis reaches 700,000, the majority residing in northern Iraq where persecution from Islamic State jihadists led to as many as 40,000 Yazidis fleeing their ancestral homes to the Sinjar Mountains in northwestern Iraq, where they were trapped without food or water. / AFP / ILYAS AKENGIN (Photo credit should read ILYAS AKE

Online ‘auctions’ of Yazidi captives speak of ongoing Islamic State activity in Turkey

The rescue of a 7-year-old Yazidi captive in Ankara raises questions about how hard Turkey is trying to tackle Islamic State militants in the country.

A Convoy of the opposition Presidential candidate, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, during the election campaign, ready to leave Bissau for the interior of the country on November 7th, 2019. - Sissoco was accused by former Prime Minister, Aristides Gomes, of trying to organize a coup'detat that never came into action. Embalo, a leader of the muslim community in Guinea Bissau, denies all of the accusations. It is a tense political period about two weeks before the Presidential elections. (Photo by - / AFP) (Photo by -/

Is Turkey challenging Egyptian influence in Guinea-Bissau?

Amid regional warnings of Turkey's growing role in West Africa, including Guinea-Bissau, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi received a call from Umaro Sissoco Embalo, president of Guinea-Bissau, to discuss ways to develop cooperation in the economic and security fields.

Istanbul's courthouse is surrounded by police fences during the trial of Erol Onderoglu, the representative of Reporters Without Borders, on July 17, 2019. - Erol Onderoglu, the representative of Reporters Without Borders (RWB) in Turkey, and two other Turkish journalists are prosecuted for supporting pro-Kurdish newspaper "Ozgur Gundem". They risk up to 14,5 years in prison. (Photo by Ozan KOSE / AFP) (Photo by OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images)

Teen suicide highlights torture in Turkey's juvenile detention centers

Conditions in Turkish jails and prisons for juveniles ignite charges of human rights abuses.

Helicopter crash kills 10 Turkish soldiers, including general

The crash killed the commander of Turkey's 8th Army Corps in the eastern Bingol province.

Turkish inflation rises, raising expectations of further rate hikes

Turkey’s inflation rate rose to 15.61% in February, marking the fifth month of consecutive increases and raising expectations for the central bank to introduce further rate hikes.

Erdogan unveils human rights reforms, raising skepticism among advocates

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Tuesday announced an 11-point human rights action plan, pledging to fortify freedoms and legal protections after years of democratic backsliding under his government.

Elusive figure of Syrian war dies with secrets in Turkey

Heysem Topalca, a fugitive whose name was implicated in some of the most controversial chapters of Ankara’s Syria policy due to his alleged role in the Turkish intelligence operations in Syria, has died, taking all his secrets to the grave.

Turkey silent as US Khashoggi report emerges

Ankara's silence following the declassification of a US intelligence report implicating the Saudi crown prince in journalist Jamal Khashoggi's killing speaks to its own contradictions on the issue.

Turkey emerges with ‘Pyrrhic growth’ from pandemic-hit 2020

Turkey’s economy grew 1.8% last year despite the pandemic, but not without major risks and downsides, including a smaller GDP in terms of dollars.

An illustration photo taken on January 25, 2021 shows the application Clubhouse on a smartphone in Berlin, after Thuringia's state premier Bodo Ramelow admitted on the chat app to playing Candy Crush on his phone during online pandemic response meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. - Bodo Ramelow, head of the eastern Thuringia state, made the confession during what he thought was a closed meeting on the invitation-only audio chatroom app Clubhouse at the weekend. (Photo by Odd ANDERSEN / AFP) (Phot

Turkish politics has entered Clubhouse

Clubhouse, an invite-only chat app, is connecting people around the world and providing a platform for muffled voices in Turkey.