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Turkey

Turkey

September 27, 2026

Ankara 8:58 am

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Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan (3rd R) with Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud (R) and Pakistan Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar (2nd R), Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman (C), Turkish Chief of the General Staff General Selcuk Bayraktaroglu (L), Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif (2nd R), Pakistani Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir (3rd R) at the first meeting of the Strategic Political and Defence Committee in relation to the

Analysis

Why Turkey is drawing the line at defense in its support for Saudi Arabia

Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia are forcing Mecca pact signatories to quickly operationalize their agreement, but are unlikely to draw Turkey into direct action against the Iran-backed group.

Ezgi Akin

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

Turkish soldiers conduct military exercises near the Habur crossing gate between Turkey and Iraq on Sept. 27, 2017 in the Silopi district, southeast Turkey.

Analysis

Can Turkey’s Bashiqa withdrawal pave the way for deeper Iraq ties?

Ankara hopes the planned handover of its Bashiqa base will deepen security cooperation with Baghdad and unlock broader economic ties, but implementation hinges on restoring Iraqi state authority in Sinjar, where previous efforts to remove armed groups have stalled.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Latest News

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

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.

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.

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

Airport staff stand next to an EgyptAir plane on the runway at Cairo Airport, September 5, 2013. The ongoing political crisis in Egypt has hit the once vibrant tourism industry hard, devastating a critical part of the country's economy. And with visitors scared away by civil strife in the aftermath of the ouster of President Mohamed Mursi, Egypt's national airliner, EgyptAir has been hit hard by the tourism slowdown. The airline has taken the brunt of losses in the tourism sector, losing billions of pounds

Cairo imposes new restrictions on travelers

Egyptian authorities have implemented new measures to restrict the entry of foreigners and to prevent Egyptians from traveling to politically unfriendly countries like Qatar and Turkey.

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan speaks to the Libyan people on the 80th anniversary of the martyrdom of Libyan resistance hero Omar al-Mukhtar, near the shrine of his burial place in Benghazi September 16, 2011. Hundreds of Libyans joined Erdogan in prayer on Friday in Tripoli, heaping praise on him for backing the revolt against Muammar Gaddafi. The Turkish prime minister, who is promoting Ankara's blend of Islam and democracy as a model for North African states, hailed Libya's revolution by invokin

Political missteps in Libya cause Turkey's economy to stumble

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the AKP government's backing of the Muslim Brotherhood in Libya is inflicting billions of dollars of economic losses on Turkey and eroding its political influence in Libya and Saharan Africa.

Syriac Christians from Turkey and Syria attend a mass at the Mort Shmuni Syriac Orthodox Church in the town of Midyat, in Mardin province of southeast Turkey February 2, 2014. Despite the empty streets of Midyat, the historical Mort Shmuni Syriac Orthodox Church is overcrowded with a community of three hundred people, mostly children. For longer than two years, not only the native Turkish Christian citizens of Midyat, but also the Syriac families escaping the bloody war in Syria just across the border are j

Turkey allows building of first new church in a century

Syriac Christians, who speak the language of Jesus, will finally have a church in Istanbul, but why now?

A Turkish Air Force F16 jet fighter takes off from an air base during a military exercise in Bandirma, Balikesir province April 9, 2010. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: MILITARY) - RTR2CLMR

Turkish, Greek warplanes tangle in mock dogfights over Aegean

The Aegean Sea overheated in 2014 because of frequent mock dogfights between Greek and Turkish warplanes, which require serious diplomacy and confidence-building measures to calm down.

An anti-government protester is detained by riot policemen during a demonstration in Ankara March 12, 2014. Turkish police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse a crowd of several thousand demonstrators in Ankara's central Kizilay square on Wednesday in a protest triggered by the death of a teenager wounded in street clashes last summer. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3GRAH

Turkey's new legal definitions lead to increase in arrests

A new legal provision to facilitate police action against government opponents in Turkey has victimized scores of people in a short period of time.

A boy holds the Kurdish PKK youth organization flag during the funeral of three Kurdish fighters killed during clashes against Islamic State in Syrian town of Kobani, at a cemetery in the southeastern town of Suruc, Sanliurfa province October 24, 2014. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach (TURKEY - Tags: MILITARY CONFLICT POLITICS CIVIL UNREST TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR4BHCQ

Turkey's internal Kurdish tensions flare

Deep-rooted strains between secular-nationalist Kurds and Islamist Kurds may reignite in the wake of the civil war in Iraq and Syria.

Tourists from Kazakhstan and Russia shop at a store at the Spice market, also known as the Egyptian Bazaar, in Istanbul August 23, 2013. The number of foreign visitors arriving in Turkey grew at its slowest pace for eight months in July, as the impact of anti-government protests and the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan took their toll, data showed on Friday. Foreign arrivals rose 0.48 percent year-on-year last month to 4.59 million people, according to the Tourism Ministry figures, the lowest rise since Nove

Russian crisis worries Turkish businesses

Hopes that Western sanctions against Moscow would benefit Turkey appear to have been premature.

Who is benefiting from the Erdogan-Gulen split?

The Turkish government’s onslaught against the Gulen community has opened the door to public jobs and economic benefits for other religious groups.

Belly dancing men make comeback in Turkey

The impact of Ottoman cultural revival is seen in the increasing popularity of male belly dancers in Turkey.

Hundreds of trucks bringing in diesel from Iran line up on a road as they head to the eastern province of Van in Turkey November 30, 2005. In the shadows of mountains bordering Iraq and Iran, Turkey's Hakkari province may one day be an outpost of the European Union. But for now, it feels cut off from the world. Picture taken November 30, 2005. To match feature Turkey-Southeast REUTERS/Fatih Saribas - RTR1AGOX

Turkey, Iran at war over trucking

A 1994 transportation accord has fueled Turkish-Iranian rivalry for economic and political influence in Central Asia.

Turkey registers Syrian refugees

Turkey has collected the biometric data of at least 1.4 million Syrians as the refugees move closer to citizenship.

Alevi demonstrators shout anti-goverment slogans during a protest against the latest violence in Okmeydani, a working-class district in the center of the city, in Istanbul May 25, 2014. Two people died last week after clashes between Turkish police and protesters in Okmeydani, a working-class district of Istanbul, stirring fears of further unrest as the anniversary of last year's anti-government demonstrations approaches. Okmeydani is home to a community of Alevis, a religious minority in mainly Sunni Musli

The massacre Turkey hopes Alevis will forget

The government is obstructing memorial observances for the 1978 anti-Alevi massacre in Maras, hoping it will be forgotten.