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

Turkey

Turkey

September 26, 2026

Ankara 10:36 pm

17°C

Servicemen of Yavuz class, TCG Turgutreis (F-241) warship, stand at attention on the deck as they participate in the live-fire phase of the "Blue Homeland-2026" (Mavi Vatan) tactical military exercises in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, in Antalya on April 9, 2026.

Turkey warns Greece-Cyprus-Israel power cable needs Ankara's approval

The Greece-Cyprus-Israel undersea power project has again stirred tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean, where Turkey deployed warships during survey work in 2024.

Latest News

Explainer

Turkey agrees to hand over contentious Bashiqa base to Iraq

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi meets with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in New York City, Sept. 23, 2026.

Explainer

Turkey’s $18B Ponzi-like scandal likened to Madoff as arrests mount

OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey, US sign $2M grant deal for small nuclear reactors: What to know

construction of Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant

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

U.S. President Barack Obama (L) speaks with Chief Rabbi of Istanbul Isak Haleva and Armenian Patriarch for all Turkey Mesrob II Archbishop Aram Stesyan (R) during a meeting with religious leaders in Istanbul April 7, 2009. REUTERS/Jim Young (TURKEY POLITICS RELIGION) - RTXDQ66

Turkey awaits Obama’s Armenian statement

Former Turkish ambassadors to Washington say there are limits to what Ankara can do if President Barack Obama refers to Armenian massacres as genocide.

A worker checks the valve gears of pipes linked to oil tanks at Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, which is run by state-owned Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAS), some 70 km (43.5 miles) from Adana February 19, 2014. Crude oil flow through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline linking Iraq to Turkey restarted on Wednesday at a rate of at a rate of about 300,000-350,000 barrels per day (bpd), a Turkish energy official said. The pipeline, which carries Kirkuk crude to Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, was d

Progress stalled on Russia's pipeline through Turkey

The project to pump gas from Russia to Europe via the Black Sea and Turkey has not broken ground despite plans for completion by 2019.

A woman walks past by a banner of Istanbul Film Festival at Atlas movie theatre in Istanbul April 14, 2015. Nearly two dozen filmmakers and a group of international critics have pulled out of the Istanbul Film Festival after the government prevented the screening of a film about Kurdish militants, in the latest outcry over censorship in Turkey. At least 22 films from the roughly 200 submitted were withdrawn this week and the festival competition cancelled, according to organisers, over "Kuzey/Bakur" (the Tu

Istanbul Film Festival rejects PKK documentary

The Turkish Ministry of Culture is facing strong protests from the film industry over its censorship of Kurdish themes.

Members of Libyan pro-government forces, backed by locals, walk with weapons during clashes in the streets with the Shura Council of Libyan Revolutionaries, an alliance of former anti-Gaddafi rebels who have joined forces with Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia, in Benghazi April 1, 2015. Picture taken April 1. REUTERS/Stringer - RTR4W1LK

Libya looks to Russia for arms

Disillusioned with the West, the Libya government is exploring opportunities in Russia and says it is willing to accept limited participation by Islamists that agree to play by the rules.

A woman places lit candles in the renovated Armenian church, perched on Akdamar Island in Lake Van, near the eastern Turkish city of Van, March 29, 2007. Turkey spent USD1,5 million in the restoration of the ancient Akdamar church, one of the most precious remnants of Armenian culture that will be converted in a museum. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY) - RTR1O2EW

Restitution of Armenian property remains unresolved

Some Turkish scholars have documented that the expropriation of Armenian property was a systematic and integral part of the genocide that began in 1915.

Turkish gendarmes stand guard during the funeral of a rebel belonging to the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Istanbul April 17, 2007. The rebel was amongst four Kurdish rebels killed by Turkish security forces during recent clashes which broke out near the eastern Turkish city of Bingol. REUTERS/Osman Orsal (TURKEY) - RTR1OQB5

MIT gun truck bust lands Turkish gendarmes in prison

Turkish gendarmes arrested and prosecuted for stopping and searching trucks — which were chartered by Turkish intelligence — feel they are unfairly prosecuted for obeying orders.

A supporter of the Jamiat Ahle Hadith organization holds a picture of Saudia Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz during a rally in support of Saudi Arabia over its intervention in Yemen, in Lahore April 19, 2015. . REUTERS/Mohsin Raza

Saudi Arabia’s deepening isolation in Yemen

Saudi Arabia faces a quagmire in Yemen; a US-Iran “catalogue of cooperation” after a nuclear deal; Iranian activists skeptical on human rights progress; Israel unnerved by Russian decision on missile sale to Iran; the Good Friday massacre in Aleppo; is Erdogan shifting from sectarianism?

Pope Francis (R) arrives to leads a mass on 100th anniversary of the Armenian mass killings in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican April 12, 2015. Pope Francis on Sunday commemorated the 100th anniversary of the massacre of as many as 1.5 million Armenians as "the first genocide of the 20th century," words that could draw an angry reaction from Turkey. REUTERS/Tony Gentile - RTR4WZ03

Turkey hopes to deter Obama from using 'G-word'

For Turks, it's unimportant what the pope and European Parliament say; what's important is what Barack Obama says.

A Lebanese man of Armenian descent holds a sign during a march from Bourj Hammoud to downtown Beirut's Martyrs Square, April 24, 2013, to mark the 98th anniversary of the mass killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1915. REUTERS/Sharif Karim (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST ANNIVERSARY) - RTXYXZD

What does Armenian diaspora want?

Portrayed as a unified obstruction group by Turkey, the diverse Armenian diaspora is eager to keep communication channels open with Turkey.

People take part in a protest in support of Turkey's position on the 1915 mass killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, at Times Square in New York April 26, 2014. The exact nature and scale of what happened during fighting that started in 1915 is highly contentious and continues to sour relations between Turkey and Armenia, a former Soviet republic. Turkey accepts that many Armenians died in clashes, but denies that up to 1.5 million were killed and that this constituted an act of genocide - a term use

Turks link Armenia to US foes in bid to derail genocide nod

Ankara's allies raise concerns with Yerevan's ties to Iran and Russia.

Activists hold pictures of Armenian victims during a demonstration to commemorate the 1915 mass killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, in Istanbul April 24, 2014. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan offered on Wednesday what the government said were unprecedented condolences to the grandchildren of Armenians killed in World War One by Ottoman soldiers. In a statement issued on the eve of the 99th anniversary of the deeply contested deaths, Erdogan unexpectedly described the events of 1915 as "inhuman

AKP readies diversion as genocide anniversary nears

Under the Justice and Development Party, Turkey has refused to face the Armenian question and is instead working to redirect the world's attention.

A demonstrator on a wheelchair blocks an armoured police vehicle on Istiklal Street in central Istanbul July 13, 2013. Turkish police fired water cannon and tear gas on Saturday to disperse hundreds of protesters who gathered to march to Gezi Park, which has been at the heart of fierce unrest against Prime Minister Erdogan's rule. Protesters scattered, running into sidestreets where police pursued them, before starting to regroup on Istiklal Street, metres from the main Taksim Square. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (T

Disabled Turks protest benefit cuts

A legal amendment cutting financial support for people with disabilities has sparked a wave of protests in Turkey, with a big demonstration scheduled for May outside parliament.