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

Turkey

Turkey

November 12, 2026

Ankara 1:43 pm

14°C

People walk past a Bitcoin sign at the entrance of a cryptocurrency exchange office on Nov. 8, 2024, in Istanbul, Turkey.

Watchdog urges Turkey to tighten digital asset rules for $144B crypto economy

A review of Turkey’s crypto-asset regulations by the Financial Stability Board acknowledged significant progress made by local authorities but called for further measures to address potential risks.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) and Central Bank Governor Sahap Kavcioglu attend a signing ceremony with Abu Dhabi’s crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at the Presidential Complex in Ankara on Nov. 24, 2021. ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey’s banking watchdog chief submits resignation amid fund scandal

Turkey’s government is facing growing criticism over regulators’ failure to prevent a fund scandal involving more than $20 billion.

Chris McGrath/Getty Images

Explainer

Iran war pushes up coal use, complicating Turkey’s COP31 pledge

Turkey is asking world leaders at COP31 to back a global push to use more electricity, even as the Iran war has driven up natural gas prices and pushed some power producers back to coal.

Latest News

Turkey bars MP’s wife from travel after his fund scandal criticism: What to know

OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images

Steel factory explosion in western Turkey kills at least 16

A steel worker works in front of giant iron melting pot in Kardemir Iron and Steel Factory in Karabuk, northwestern Turkey, Aug. 26 2005. (TARIK TINAZAY/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Will Democrats block Trump’s push to deliver Turkey F-35s, lift sanctions?

MEHMET ESER/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

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

Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen is pictured at his residence in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania September 26, 2013. Born in Erzurum, eastern Turkey, Gulen built up his reputation as a Muslim preacher with intense sermons that often moved him to tears. From his base in Izmir, he toured Turkey stressing the need to embrace scientific progress, shun radicalism and build bridges to the West and other faiths. The first Gulen school opened in 1982. In the following decades, the movement became a spectacular success, s

Gulenists use hate speech against Shiites, Iranians

Turkey’s Gulenists, hostile to Iran and to Shiites, incite Sunnis to enmity and hatred against Shiites.

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad (R) meets Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Damascus January 15, 2014, in this handout released by Syria's national news agency SANA. REUTERS/SANA/Handout via Reuters (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CONFLICT) ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS - RTX17F37

Iran’s four-part plan for a political solution in Syria

The best approach to a political solution in Syria lies in addressing both the threat of international terrorism and the urgent humanitarian crisis, as well as a national and international process leading to a direct vote by the Syrian people, according to Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein-Amir Abdollahian.

Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari (L) welcomes Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) at his arrival to Baghdad's airport February 23, 2014. REUTERS/Ahmed Saad (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX19COB

Iraq looks East in foreign policy

As disputes between Iraq and the West seem to be on the rise, Baghdad is refocusing its efforts on the “East,” in particular Russia, China and Iran.

Military personnel, believed to be Russian servicemen, stand guard outside the territory of a Ukrainian military unit in the village of Perevalnoye outside Simferopol March 4, 2014. Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a robust defence of Russia's actions in Crimea on Tuesday and reserved the right to use force in Ukraine as a last resort, but he sought to ease East-West tension over fears of war in the former Soviet republic. REUTERS/David Mdzinarishvili (UKRAINE - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY CIVIL UNRE

Turkey boxed in by Russian moves in Crimea

The Ukraine crisis will likely harden Russia’s support for Syria, further complicating Turkey’s regional policies.

Palestinian woman Jamela Abu Esheba, 39, ties bags of cement with a rope at a work field in the northern Gaza Strip May 12, 2013. Abu Esheba, who lives with her aged parents, works as a cement bag porter and is the sole breadwinner for her family. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: SOCIETY POVERTY) - RTXZJND

Cement shortage in Gaza leaves thousands jobless

Israel's restrictions on cement imports into the Gaza Strip are having a devastating effect on the local economy.

Syrian rebel force to receive Saudi arms has worked with al-Qaeda group

The leader of the Saudi-backed rebel Southern Front, which Riyadh intends to arm with advanced weaponry, has openly collaborated with al-Qaeda during the course of the Syria war.

Al-Monitor recognized by IPI as 'Free Media Pioneer'

The International Press Institute has awarded the annual Free Media Pioneer Award to Al-Monitor as “a model for independent coverage of the region through its news, features, analysis and commentary at a time of political upheaval.”

GAZA CITY, -: Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, new Finance Minister Salam Fayad (2R) and new Sports and Youth Minister Bassem Naim (R) arrive for the first meeting of the new Palestinian unity cabinet in Gaza City, 18 March 2007. The new Palestinian government held its first cabinet meeting today, vowing to confront rampant lawlessness and end a crippling international aid freeze but facing a continued Israeli boycott. AFP PHOTO/MAHMUD HAMS (Photo credit should read MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/Getty Images)

Hamas uses backchannel to Tel Aviv

According to Hamas sources, the Islamist movement sent an indirect message to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and not for the first time.

EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to film or take pictures in Tehran.

Gas refineries and petrochemical plants are seen in Assalouyeh, 1,000 km (621 miles) south of Tehran, January 26, 2011. Picture taken January 26. REUTERS/Caren Firouz (IRAN - Tags: BUSINESS ENERGY) - RTXX59T

Why is Turkey buying more gas than it needs from Iran?

Why does Turkey want to double its gas imports from Iran when it's already importing more gas than it consumes?

Supporters of Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan listen to his speech during the opening ceremony of a new line of the Ankara Metro in Ankara February 12, 2014. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX18NXK

Erdogan counting on elections to recoup from scandals

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is banking on the polls, not the courts, to vindicate himself from the current allegations of corruption.

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan greets his supporters as he arrives for a meeting at the Turkish parliament in Ankara February 25, 2014. Erdogan said on Tuesday voice recordings purportedly of him telling his son to dispose of large sums of money on the day news broke of a graft inquiry were a "treacherous attack" on his office. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR3FP9H

Turkey’s warring personality cults

In the absence of well-grounded institutions, politics in Turkey often devolves into a battle of personalities, as we see now between Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen.

A supporter of Egypt's army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi wears an image of him around her neck as she rallies outside a police academy, where the trial of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi and members of the Muslim Brotherhood is due to take place, on the outskirts of Cairo, February 16, 2014. Mursi appeared in court on Sunday on charges of conspiring with foreign groups to commit terrorist acts in Egypt, in a further escalation of the crackdown against his Muslim Brotherhood. The image of

Sisi not Egypt’s civilian Messiah

Whoever becomes Egypt’s next president must do three things, including bringing all political parties together if Egypt is to be able to rebuild its economy and political institutions.