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Turkey

Turkey

September 27, 2026

Ankara 4:10 pm

23°C

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

Riot police block the main Istiklal street to prevent pro-Kurdish demonstrators from marching, in central Istanbul February 15, 2012. Supporters of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) held a protest to mark the 13th anniversary of the capture of Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan. REUTERS/Murad Sezer (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR2XWA8

Davutoglu sets ambitious target for Turkish democracy

Developments contradict claims by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu that Turkey will become a global power in terms of universal democracy over the next nine years.

A woman reads a newspaper at a cafe, with an opposition newspaper carrying an upside down picture of Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on the window, in the Aegean coastal town of Cesme, western Turkey July 14, 2014. As families splash in the sea and lounge in the sun, thoughts of politics and civic duty are a world away for most Turks holidaying on the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts. Only the most committed opponents of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan leave the beach to queue in a sweltering council bui

Banished Erdogan critics find new home at opposition paper

The Sozcu daily, a relative newcomer in the Turkish press, has climbed to the top of the circulation ladder, taking on board senior journalists dumped from other papers for criticizing the government.

Turkish villages smuggle IS oil through makeshift pipelines

In the village of Hacipasa, almost every house is connected to an illegal oil pipeline smuggling IS oil into Turkey.

A Turkish flag, with the Ottoman-era New mosque in the background, flies over a passenger ferry in Istanbul August 20, 2014. REUTERS/Murad Sezer (TURKEY - Tags: RELIGION TRAVEL) - RTR434PO

Moderate Muslims' quandary about IS

Both Turkey and other Muslim societies need more voices that will take extremism seriously and discredit it with serious arguments.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (L) and Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu pose before a meeting in Ankara September 12, 2014. Kerry will meet Cavusoglu, as well as Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and President Tayyip Erdogan during his two-day visit to the capital Ankara, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR45Z0L

Turkey rows against the tide

Ideological assumptions based on Islamist and Sunni sympathies, as well as a series of bad judgments, leave Turkey with diminished influence in a region where it once hoped to play a leadership role.

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (2nd L) poses for a family photo with European Parliament President Martin Schulz (L), European Union Council President Herman Van Rompuy (2nd R) and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso (R) ahead of a EU-Turkey summit at the EU council headquarters in Brussels January 21, 2014. REUTERS/Yves Herman (BELGIUM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX17NZX

Turks turn to EU with renewed enthusiasm

Public support for EU membership in Turkey has shot up from 45% to 53% in just one year, a new survey says.

Workers shout slogans during a protest in front of an residential project, where an accident occurred in Istanbul September 8, 2014. Turkish real-estate developer Torunlar REIT said on Monday it has halted construction activities at all of its projects for five days following an accident that killed 10 workers at an Istanbul residential project. Work on the residential project, where the accident occurred at the weekend, has been suspended indefinitely and a legal investigation has been launched there, acco

Turkish workers face perilous conditions

Turkey's workplace is the most dangerous in Europe, and critics blame the Justice and Development Party's brand of crony capitalism.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators march to protest Israeli military strikes on Gaza, during a rally in central Istanbul July 13, 2014. Thousands fled their homes in a Gaza town on Sunday after Israel warned them to leave ahead of threatened attacks on rocket-launching sites, on the sixth day of an offensive that Palestinian officials said has killed at least 160 people. Militants in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip kept up rockets salvoes deep into the Jewish state and the worst bout of Israel-Palestinian bloodshed i

Obama asks Erdogan to combat anti-Semitism

Anti-Semitism has reached alarming levels in Turkey, where public figures are calling out Jewish Turks over Israel's actions in Gaza.

U.S. President Barack Obama listens as he hosts a bilateral meeting with Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan during the NATO Summit at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, Wales September 5, 2014. REUTERS/Larry Downing (UNITED KINGDOM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR453P4

Is Turkey the weakest link in anti-IS coalition?

Held back by political weaknesses and ideological constraints, Ankara is likely to be the weakest and most reluctant member of the planned coalition against the Islamic State.

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks as he hosts a bilateral meeting with Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan during the NATO Summit at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, Wales September 5, 2014. REUTERS/Larry Downing (UNITED KINGDOM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR453HP

Turkey faces dilemma in fight against Islamic State

Turkey is not keen to have the Kurds, Shiites and the Damascus regime be bolstered in the fight against the Islamic State.

Peshmerga fighters inspect the remains of a car, bearing an image of the trademark jihadist flag, which belonged to Islamic State (IS) militants after it was targeted by an American air strike in the village of Baqufa, north of Mosul, on August 18,2014. Kurdish peshmerga fighters backed by federal forces and US warplanes pressed a counter-offensive Monday against jihadists after retaking Iraq's largest dam, as the United States and Britain stepped up their military involvement. AFP PHOTO/AHMAD AL-RUBAYE

Islamic State becoming ‘dominant voice’ among global jihadists

The United States intensifies military planning against the Islamic State; Syria’s new Cabinet; Israel faces "highly complex reality" in Syria; IS-linked group threatens more terror, beheadings in the Sinai Peninsula; what Egypt lost in the Al Jazeera trial.

Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu addresses his party MPs during a meeting at the Turkish parliament in Ankara April 8, 2014. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY) - RTR3KEBT

Will Turkey’s CHP reconcile with Islam?

Turkey’s main opposition leader is seeking to reconcile his party with the pious masses, but faces both their deep-rooted suspicions and the resistance of his own hard-core secularists.