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Turkey

Turkey

November 30, 2025

Ankara 1:34 am

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Kurdish official Aldar Khalil, who played a key role in establishing Syria's semiautonomous Kurdish region in 2013, during an interview in Qamishli on Dec. 22, 2018.

Exclusive

Top PYD official Aldar Khalil: 'Syria is telling Kurds to separate'

Al-Monitor spoke exclusively to Aldar Khalil, a member of the executive council of the Democratic Unity Party (PYD), which shares power in the Kurdish-led administration in northeast Syria, about the halted talks between Syria’s transitional government and the Kurdish-led administration in northeast Syria.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan greets Pope Leo XIV during a welcome ceremony at the Presidential Palace, Ankara, Nov. 27, 2025.

In first foreign visit, Pope Leo meets Erdogan, urges Turkey to uphold pluralism

On his inaugural foreign visit to Turkey, Pope Leo called for respect for pluralism after meeting with the Turkish president.

Andreas SOLARO / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Pope Leo in Turkey, navigating faith, politics and Orthodox tensions

The visit will bolster Turkey’s image on religious tolerance and shared positions with the Vatican while Ankara navigates sensitive issues surrounding the Halki Seminary and the Greek Patriarchate’s ecumenical status.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Latest News

Turkey sentences journalist over 4 years in jail for threatening Erdogan

Prominent Turkish journalist Fatih Altayli is pictured in this undated image.

Analysis

PKK leader Ocalan gains legitimacy in Turkey, bigger sway over Syria’s Kurds

People take part in a demonstration to call for the liberation of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan outside the European Council in Strasbourg, eastern France, on Sept. 15, 2025.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Turkey’s spy chief holds talks in Egypt over trapped Hamas militants

BASHAR TALEB/AFP via Getty Images

Culture

Turkey’s graphic-novel culture blossoms in face of censorship

cartoons

Samuel Wendel

Senior Market Research Analyst

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

ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey's infamous Diyarbakir prison empties for museum makeover

Diyarbakir prison, a symbol of torture and oppression for decades in Turkey, has finally closed to be made into a museum, but some activists see whitewashing on its bloodstained walls.

Leon Neal/Getty Images

Next British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's views on Middle East

The Conservative statesman has expressed fairly mainstream views on Israel, Iran and other regional issues.

Erdogan economy

Can Erdogan pull up his sagging support?

Unlike previous polls that suggest steady decrease for Erdogan and his ruling party, a recent poll shows the tide may have been turned.

Chris McGrath/Getty Images

Turkey’s Central Bank ducks soaring inflation to cut rates again

Despite the highest inflation in 24 years, Turkey’s Central Bank has made its third interest cut ahead of elections next June.

HDP MP Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu holds a photograph depicting censorship.

Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk, writers reject Turkey’s new 'censorship' bill

Turkey’s main opposition has taken the newly enacted bill to the Constitutional Court for annulment, while Erdogan described the law he swiftly ratified as “a pressing necessity.”

ERdogan Flake

US dismisses Turkish criticism of imbalance in Mediterranean

The US ambassador to Turkey stated that America is focusing on the Russian invasion of Ukraine amid simmering tensions between Turkey and Greece.

A man walks in front of a screen showing rates against Turkish lira near a currency exchange agency at Kaarakoy in Istanbul on Dec. 16, 2021 in Istanbul.

Erdogan’s staunchest backers 'tired' of interest rate debate

The Turkish president’s controversial economic policies have led to rare public criticism by a business group that has long backed his party.

YASIN AKGUL/AFP via Getty Images

Turkish mine disaster sends blame flying

In the wake of an explosion that killed 41 miners, several Turkish bodies are trading blame for safety failures in the coal industry.

Members of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) jihadist group bring reinforcements.

Is Turkey using HTS to strengthen its hand in Syria?

Amid Ankara’s overtures to Damascus, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham — the radical group controlling Idlib — has seized Afrin and is seeking a deal to expand its control further into territories held by factions allied with Turkey.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Putin’s 'gas hub’ plan aims to bolster Erdogan's image

Erdogan has accepted Putin’s offer to create a “gas hub” in northwest Turkey. But what is a gas hub? Is it workable? If realized, what impact would it have?

Members of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) jihadi group advance toward the village of Jindayris.

Are Syria’s HTS jihadis Turkey’s new friends?

After Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the jihadi faction that runs the northwestern province of Idlib, moved into Afrin, the question of where Turkey stands in this power grab is of critical importance.

CIS summit

Middle Eastern leaders converge on Kazakhstan

The Central Asian nation hosted the annual Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia and the Commonwealth of Independent States summits this week.