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Turkey

Turkey

November 11, 2026

Ankara 1:26 pm

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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.

OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images

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

Opposition politicians and rights advocates described Yonca Verdioglu Sik’s brief detention as an attempt to intimidate her husband, opposition lawmaker Ahmet Sik, over his criticism of the government.

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)

Steel factory explosion in western Turkey kills at least 16

Footage from the scene showed a huge plume of thick smoke spreading into the sky as flames engulfed a tall structure within the plant.

Latest News

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

Costa Rica's Grynspan extends lead in UNSG poll as Nusseibeh places fourth

United Arab Emirates

Turkey’s parliament ratifies Mecca pact in boost to Saudi Arabia

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses Turkish members of parliament during the opening of the parliamentary session at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in Ankara, on Oct. 1, 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

TALESH, IRAN - MAY 17: Labourers sow rice in a paddy field on May 17, 2007 near Talesh, Northern-Western Iran. Rice in its various forms is the most consumed cereal, totalling a massive one-fifth of all calories consumed by the human race and is a staple in many parts of Asia. The biggest producers of rice, mainly grown in paddy fields are China, India and Indonesia. (Photo by Majid/Getty Images)

Turkey, Iran seek to boost trade as mistrust lingers

Turkey and Iran have activated an accord to reduce tariffs and increase bilateral trade to $35 billion in 2015, but mistrust lingers between the two neighbors, with Turkey seeking international arbitration over the price of Iranian natural gas.

Could a PM Davutoglu repair Turkey's foreign policy?

Turkey’s once overambitious foreign minister is the most likely candidate to take over the AKP leadership and become prime minister, but few expect major changes in Ankara’s foreign policy orientation.

Broken antenna covers of Former National Security Agency (NSA) listening station are seen at the Teufelsberg hill (German for Devil's Mountain) in Berlin, June 30, 2013. The United States taps half a billion phone calls, emails and text messages in Germany in a typical month and has classed its biggest European ally as a target similar to China, according to secret U.S. documents quoted by a German newsmagazine. The revelations of alleged U.S. surveillance programmes based on documents taken by fugitive for

Turkish-German relations strained following spying revelations

Revelations about Germany spying on Turkey have heightened tensions between the two NATO allies.

An election campaign banner of Turkey's Prime Minister and presidential candidate Tayyip Erdogan is seen near a mosque in Istanbul August 9, 2014. Erdogan is set to secure his place in history as Turkey's first popularly-elected president on Sunday, but his tightening grip on power has polarised the nation, worried Western allies and raised fears of creeping authoritarianism. REUTERS/Murad Sezer (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTR41T1P

Erdogan, not religion, divides Turkey

Turkey’s political scene is not divided on ideology anymore, but between pro- and anti-Erdogan camps.

Selahattin Demirtas, co-chairman of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democracy Party (HDP) and presidential candidate, speaks during an election rally in Diyarbakir, August 8, 2014. Tayyip Erdogan is set to secure his place in history as Turkey's first popularly-elected president on Sunday, but his tightening grip on power has polarised the nation, worried Western allies and raised fears of creeping authoritarianism. Demirtas was running a distant third. REUTERS/Stringer (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTR41Q

Turkish left’s most pressing problem: the Kurds

An intraparty conflict has become inevitable in Turkey’s center-left opposition as the amnesia-stricken Republican People's Party refuses to discuss the actual reasons behind its failure in the wake of another election defeat.

TO GO WITH AFP STORY IN FRENCH BY NICOLAS CHEVIRON:Greek crisis threatens minority newspaper in Istanbul
Mihail Vasiliadis, owner of the Apoyevmatini newspaper, poses during an interview with an AFP journalist at his office, in Istanbul, on July 12, 2011. Apoyevmatini, the main newspaper of the small Greek community of Istanbul, has survived the vagaries of Greek-Turkish relations for 86 years. It is now threatened with closure, as Greek companies cut advertising. AFP PHOTO / MUSTAFA OZER (Photo credit shou

Turkey’s only Greek-language newspaper faces closure

Turkey's only Greek-language newspaper is threatened with closure due to declining revenue following the financial crisis in Greece.

Turkey's President Abdullah Gul (R) and his wife Hayrunnisa Gul walk over the Dam Square to attend a wreath laying ceremony in Amsterdam April 17, 2012. Gul is in the Netherlands for a three-day state visit. REUTERS/Robin van Lonkhuijsen/United Photos (NETHERLANDS - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR30U9Y

Would Gul battle Turkey’s 'parallel state'?

Outgoing President Abdullah Gul’s distinction between Gulenist wrongdoers within the state and innocent members of the community shows the difficulty of dismantling the “parallel state” without crippling democracy and social peace.

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan greets members of his ruling AK Party (AKP) as he arrives at a meeting at the party headquarters in Ankara August 14, 2014. Turkish president-elect Erdogan urged his ruling AK Party on Thursday to work for a stronger parliamentary majority next year to enable them to re-write the constitution, signalling no let-up in his drive to create an executive presidency. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR42E72

Amid regional instability, Turkey focuses on domestic agenda

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Justice and Development Party are engrossed in the transition to a presidential system, but unrelenting developments in the Middle East will leave Ankara facing major regional problems.

Fitch Chief Executive Officer Paul Taylor speaks during a meeting organised by The Economist in Cascais February 18, 2014. The ratings agency Fitch considers that Portugal's economic and fiscal situation is "moving in the right direction" but it is premature to talk of raising the country's credit rating back to investment grade, Fitch CEO said on Tuesday. REUTERS/Rafael Marchante (PORTUGAL - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS) - RTX191TB

Will Turkey face another credit rating downgrade?

Fitch Ratings has warned of high risks in Turkey, sparking concern that the agency, the first to raise Turkey to investment grade back in 2012, may now be the first to downgrade the country.

Supporters of Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (not pictured) cheer as he addresses the members of parliament from his ruling AK Party (AKP) during a meeting at the Turkish parliament in Ankara June 18, 2013. REUTERS/Stringer (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX10RT1

Turkey's AKP looks to the future

Erdogan wants and will likely see a loyal young generation of leaders take over his Justice and Development Party (AKP).

A member of security forces watches as Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan casts a shadow as he addresses to supporters in front of the party headquarters in Ankara August 10, 2014. Erdogan secured his place in history as Turkey's first directly elected president on Sunday, sweeping more than half the vote in a result his opponents fear heralds an increasingly authoritarian state. REUTERS/Murad Sezer (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR41WAO

Erdogan’s presidential ambitions face uphill battle

The selection of President-elect Recep Tayyip Erdogan's replacement as AKP leader may create turmoil in the party's ranks.

Masked women face each other during a gay pride parade on Istiklal Street, Istanbul's main shopping corridor, on June 29, 2014, as part of the Trans Pride Week 2014 organized by Istanbul's 'Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transvestites and Transsexuals' (LGBTT) solidarity organization. AFP PHOTO / OZAN KOSE (Photo credit should read OZAN KOSE/AFP/Getty Images)

Pro-Erdogan LGBT individuals get organized in Turkey

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s presidential campaign got support from unlikely quarters when Islamic-leaning LGBT individuals raised the rainbow flag at a rally in Istanbul.