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Turkey

Turkey

November 30, 2025

Ankara 8:27 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

ALEXEY NIKOLSKY/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey makes peace bid with Chechen leader

As Ankara finesses relations with Moscow, top Turkish officials have quietly met with Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov after years of chill marked by a string of murders of Chechen exiles in Turkey.

Pervin Chakar

Kurdish diva brokenhearted but resolute in face of language discrimination in Turkey

The "brutal" quashing of Kurdishness in Turkey continues to be state policy — even in entertainment.

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Tehran on July 19, 2022.

Russia offers Erdogan economic lifeline

Gas payments in rubles will help Turkey reduce its foreign-currency demand.

The Turkey-flagged Abdulhamid Han.

Fourth Turkish drilling ship begins energy exploration in Mediterranean

Past Turkish energy exploration activities took place in waters claimed by Greece and Cyprus, leading to significant tensions.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Erdogan asks Turkish diplomats to fight Islamaphobia

Turkey’s president, long criticized for sidelining and politicizing Turkey’s foreign service, is urging ambassadors to do their best to ensure that Turks abroad can participate in upcoming elections.

Turkish activists and opposition members gather with pictures of victims — largely from the Alevi community — killed in Madimak Otel on July 2, 2018, in Sivas.

Attacks on Alevi places of worship rattle Turkey

The AKP government, which faces an uphill battle to mend ties with the Alevi community ahead of next year’s elections, pledges to bring culprits to justice.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) during a meeting in Sochi, on Aug. 5, 2022.

At summit, Erdogan, Putin still divided on Syria

Ankara agreed that part of its natural gas payments to Moscow would be switched to rubles.

Turkey frees Palestinian man in Haiti assassination saga

A Palestinian man suspected of involvement in the slaying of Haiti’s president last year has left Turkey after winning a protracted legal battle over his detention in the country.

SERGEI SAVOSTYANOV/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images

Erdogan hopes Putin summit will greenlight Turkey's new Syria operation

Ankara’s central role in facilitating the Russia-Ukraine grain deal could strengthen its hand in securing Moscow’s acceptance of a Turkish military incursion.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan received the speaker of the Libyan House of Representatives, Akile Saleh.

After years of hostility, Turkey forges ties with eastern Libya

Turkey’s hosting of the head of Libya’s eastern-based parliament sets a meaningful landmark in its bid to reshape its Libya policy.

People shop in a busy market ahead of the start of the holy month of Ramadan on April 1, 2022, in Istanbul, Turkey.

Turkey’s inflation hits almost 80% as Erdogan insists on low-rate policy

Despite a relative slowdown in July, Turkey’s consumer inflation appears on course to overshoot the central bank’s newly revised year-end forecast of 60.4%.

The national flags of Azerbaijan (L) and Turkey, and portraits of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev (R) hang side-by-side on the mayoral building in the Kecioren district of Ankara on Oct. 21, 2020.

Armenia clings to Turkish peace talks to avert war with Azerbaijan

Erdogan has made it clear that progress in the talks is contingent on progress on Armenia’s negotiations for a peace treaty with Azerbaijan.