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Turkey

Turkey

September 28, 2026

Ankara 12:09 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

Israel's army chief Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi (front) sits before testifying at a state-appointed inquiry into the Israeli naval raid on a Gaza aid flotilla, in Jerusalem, August 11, 2010. Ashkenazi acknowledged on Wednesday that his troops were not ready for the violent resistance encountered when they boarded the Gaza-bound aid ship and ended up killing nine pro-Palestinian activists. REUTERS/Gali Tibbon/Pool (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST MILITARY) - RTR2H8JL

Leviathan gas deal may be catalyst for Israel-Turkey reset

Is the Turkish court’s decision to indict former Israeli army chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi for the Mavi Marmara flotilla raid part of the reconciliatory diplomatic ballet by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, eyeing the “Leviathan” gas field?

Supporters of Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan hold up their mobile phones and wave Turkish flags ahead of his visit in Lanxess Arena in Cologne May 24, 2014. A visit by Erdogan to Cologne on Saturday to address thousands of expatriate Turks threatens to bring Turkey's political tensions to German streets, despite an appeal by Chancellor Angela Merkel for him to adopt a sensitive tone. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay (GERMANY - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR3QNKQ

Erdogan visit riles German government

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan brought his divisive politics to Cologne.

Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev receives Turkey's State Honour Medal from his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul (R) during a ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Ankara November 12, 2013. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX15ABA

Turkey-Azerbaijan pipeline offers alternative for Russian gas

Ankara hopes the new pipeline, which could also carry Iranian natural gas, will break Russia’s stranglehold on natural gas prices.

Erdogan’s dictator defense

Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, responding to critics who label him a “dictator,” can improve his image by giving up practices that generate criticism.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan speaks to supporters during his visit in Cologne May 24, 2014. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay (GERMANY - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3QNX8

Turkey's Erdogan obsession

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's team should see that the hateful "Erdogano-centricity" of which they complain is mostly of Erdogan's making.

A picture taken on May 23, 2013 shows a beat-up and bruised doll diplayed during an exhibition that aims at raising public awareness of child abuse at Tel Avivs Rabin Square, Israel. AFP PHOTO/DAVID BUIMOVITCH (Photo credit should read DAVID BUIMOVITCH/AFP/Getty Images)

Child murders traumatize Turkey

A government proposal to toughen penalties for child abuse has failed to soothe public outrage in Turkey amid a surge in deadly violence against children.

A combination photo of a Turkish riot policeman using tear gas against a woman as people protest against the destruction of trees in a park brought about by a pedestrian project, in Taksim Square in central Istanbul May 28, 2013.In her red cotton summer dress, necklace and white bag slung over her shoulder she might have been floating across the lawn at a garden party; but before her crouches a masked policeman firing teargas spray that sends her long hair billowing upwards. Endlessly shared on social media

Gezi anniversary reminder of Erdogan's nine lives

The one-year anniversary of the Gezi Park protests is another reminder of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's durability despite a series of crises.

Circassian men wearing traditional clothes pose for a photograph in a tea field during the visit of a delegation of diaspora Circassians in Golovinka, near Sochi October 15, 2013. Circassians are a people indigenous to the North Caucasus region, most of whom were scattered across the globe by a 19th century tsarist military campaign that caused the deaths of huge numbers. Many Circassians have called for the killings to be recognised as genocide, and have campaigned against the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, s

Turkey's Circassians jangle Russian nerves

Circassians in Turkey have grown bolder in speaking out about their 19th-century suffering and exile, irritating Russia and straining diaspora organizations.

Palestinian labourers wait to cross into Israel at dawn at Hashmonaim checkpoint near the West Bank village of Nilin, west of Ramallah March 14, 2013. Israel's system of checkpoints and restrictions in the occupied West Bank inflicts long-term damage on Palestinians' ability to compete in the global market, the World Bank said on Tuesday. REUTERS/Darren Whiteside (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS EMPLOYMENT) - RTR3EYTV

Israel pushes West Bank toward economic disaster

Turning the West Bank into the economic twin of the Gaza Strip will provoke new threats to Israel's security, which is why the US administration leans toward cooperating with the new Palestinian unity government.

A security checkpoint guarded by Syrian Kurd Asaish officers (R) is seen at Derik in Al-Hasakah October 31, 2012. Iraqi Kurdish President Masoud Barzani warned Kurds in Syria against being sucked into the "fires of discord," urging them to preserve Kurdish unity as tensions between rival factions threaten to spillover into violence. Syria's Kurds see the war ravaging their country as an unprecedented opportunity to gain the kind of freedoms enjoyed by their ethnic kin in neighbouring Iraq, where they live a

Syrian Kurdish mother killed at Turkish border

The killing of Saadet Dervis of Rojava by Turkish soldiers in front of her children while trying to cross the border into Syria has led to new scrutiny of Turkey’s Syria policy.

A view shows the Standard & Poor's building in New York's financial district February 5, 2013. The U.S. government is seeking more than $5 billion in a lawsuit against rating agency Standard & Poor's over mortgage bond ratings, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said on Tuesday. The civil suit against S&P and its parent McGraw-Hill Cos Inc is the first federal enforcement action against a credit rating agency over alleged illegal behavior related to the 2007-2009 U.S. financial crisis. REUTERS/Brendan McDerm

S&P dashes Turkey’s hopes, again

Standard & Poor's defies expectations for a positive revision of Turkey’s economic outlook, adding fresh chill to its troubled relations with Ankara.

A woman walks past a Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) campaign poster for Iraq's parliamentary elections in Sulaimaniya April 28, 2014. Picture taken April 28, 2014. To match IRAQ-ELECTION/KURDS REUTERS/Jacob Russell (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR3N0GU

Would PUK cut separate deal with Maliki?

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) did well in the Iraqi national elections, and may be flirting with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to strengthen its hand in Iraqi Kurdish politics.