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Turkey

Turkey

July 12, 2026

Ankara 5:17 pm

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Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer (L) and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pose after signing a defense partnership agreement on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, July 8, 2026.

Analysis

From S-400s to SAMP/T: Turkey’s defense pivot gathers pace after NATO summit

Turkey is seeking to turn the diplomatic momentum from the Ankara NATO summit into a broad defense realignment spanning US sanctions relief and fighter technology, European air defenses and deeper military cooperation with the UK.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Lebanese PM Salam in Turkey as Erdogan seeks wider regional role

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s visit to Turkey comes after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently warned that Israeli attacks against Lebanon and Syria threaten Turkey’s security.

Latest News

In first, Russia confirms S-400 talks with Turkey amid transfer reports to acquire F-35

AFP via Getty Images

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

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.

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

Getty Images

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

Iraqi kurds, some of them wearing protective masks due to COVID-19, march during a demonstration to denounce the Turkish assault in northern Iraq, in Sulaimaniyah city, in the Kurdish autonomous region of northern Iraq, on June 18, 2020. - Turkey launched a rare ground assault into northern Iraq on June 17, deploying special forces against rebels from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which is blacklisted by Ankara as a "terrorist" group. Baghdad demanded Ankara immediately halt its assault in northern Ira

Turkish airstrikes rile Iraqi street

Turkey's continuing airstrikes and other military aggression in northern Iraq are increasing tensions and expanding instability in the region.

ISTANBUL, TURKEY - MAY 29: In this aerial photo taken with a drone, Turkish drilling vessel 'Fatih' sails up the Bosphorus towards the Black Sea on May 29, 2020 in Istanbul, Turkey. (Photo by Burak Kara/Getty Images)

How Mediterranean standoff complicates Turkey's natural gas agenda

Too many factors — especially tensions with Greece — are at play to determine whether recent gas discovery in the Black Sea will translate into massive commercial and political gains for Ankara.

Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (R) and German Foreign Affairs Minister Heiko Maas (L) hold a joint press conference following their meeting at the Turkish Foreign Ministry in Ankara on August 25, 2020. - The German Foreign minister warned on August 25 that Turkey's standoff with Greece in the eastern Mediterranean was at a "very critical" juncture but stressed that both sides appeared ready to talk. A crisis has been brewing in the eastern Mediterranean, where Turkey is at odds with Greec

Germany appeals for calm as Turkish, Greek navies run drills in EastMed

The Turkish and Greek navies conducted drills in the eastern Mediterranean this week as German Foreign Minister Heiko Mass seeks to bring both nations back to the negotiation table.

TOPSHOT - Members of the Salah Bou-Haliqa brigade, loyal to the country's east strongman Khalifa Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army, celebrate as they arrive in the eastern city of Benghazi after seizing the central al-Jufra area from the Benghazi Defence Brigades coalition, a rival to Haftar's forces on June 5, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / Abdullah DOMA (Photo credit should read ABDULLAH DOMA/AFP via Getty Images)

Libyan cease-fire casts cloud over Erdogan’s ambitions

Having failed to advance its military intervention in Libya, Ankara has grudgingly endorsed a cease-fire in the conflict, but its ambitions appear intact for the process down the road.

Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu holds a joint press conference with the German Foreign Affairs minister following their meeting at the Turkish Foreign Ministry in Ankara on August 25, 2020. - The German Foreign minister warned on August 25 that Turkey's standoff with Greece in the eastern Mediterranean was at a "very critical" juncture but stressed that both sides appeared ready to talk. A crisis has been brewing in the eastern Mediterranean, where Turkey is at odds with Greece and the Eur

Turkey open to talks with Greece without preconditions: foreign minister

During a meeting with his German counterpart, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said his government is ready for talks with Greece, but without preconditions.

Intel: Washington condemns Erdogan’s meeting with Hamas leadership

The US State Department has condemned the Turkish president’s recent meeting with senior members of the Palestinian militant group Hamas as one that “only serves to isolate Turkey” on the world stage.

Turkish police officers wearing face masks stand in front of Hagia Sophia entrance on July 11, 2020 in Istanbul, a day after a top Turkish court revoked the sixth-century Hagia Sophia's status as a museum, clearing the way for it to be turned back into a mosque. - The United States said on July 10, it was "disappointed" by Turkey's decision to turn the Byzantine-era monument Hagia Sophia back into a mosque and urged equal access for all visitors. (Photo by Ozan KOSE / AFP) (Photo by OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty

Islamic State operative planning 'sensational' attack nabbed in Istanbul

Ankara has arrested a man suspected of planning “a sensational attack” in Istanbul and six others in raids that point to a festering Islamic State problem in Turkey.

Flooding in Turkey kills at least eight in bitter reminder of climate chaos

The government has pledged to rebuild areas hard hit by a weekend flood, but activists warn the construction of roads, dams and buildings in flood zones means more disasters are likely to follow.

A displaced Syrian boy from Ras al-Ain, a border town controlled by Turkey and its Syrian proxies, fills jerrycans with water at the Washukanni camp in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province on April 16, 2020. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP) (Photo by DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Turkey starves Syria’s northeast of water as virus death toll mounts

Turkey has once again cut water supplies to the Hasakeh region of northeast Syria, and the autonomous administration says Ankara is risking hundreds of thousands of lives in the midst of the pandemic and soaring temperatures to placate Syrians living under Turkish occupation.

Turkey says it is institution-building through military training in Libya

A new military training agreement between Ankara, Doha and Tripoli demonstrates Turkey’s institution-building efforts in Libya, but the success of these efforts will mainly depend on the support of Western powers.

Is Turkey’s opposition losing Istanbul to Erdogan?

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is employing a panoply of unfathomable methods to peremptorily take over city municipalities he lost in the last election.

Erdogan converts another historic church into a mosque

The centuries-old Chora church, which has served as a museum since 1945, will soon be open to Muslim worship.