Turkey - AL-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent since 2012

Turkey

Turkey

March 22, 2026

Ankara 7:48 am

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Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan (R) and Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani (2L) arrive to address a joint press conference in Doha on March 19, 2026. (Photo by Karim JAAFAR / AFP via Getty Images)

Turkey, Qatar pledge to deepen defense ties, blame Israel for Iran war

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s trip to Doha is part of a Gulf tour that began Wednesday in Riyadh, as Iran continues to strike energy assets across the region.

A view of the oil refinery on March 17, 2026 in Erbil, Iraq.

Exclusive

Iraqi oil flows to Turkey after US pledges role in Baghdad-Kurds customs dispute

A US-brokered breakthrough between Baghdad and Erbil has restarted Iraqi oil exports through Turkey after a weeklong standoff.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Latest News

NATO deploys new Patriot battery to Turkey as Fidan in Riyadh for regional talks

A Patriot anti-missile battery launcher, deployed by Dutch NATO soldiers, is seen March 11, 2003 at the Diyarbakir military airport in southeastern Turkey.

Desperate to sell its oil, Iraq turns to Turkey amid standoff with Kurds

An Iraqi oil tanker waits at the Khawr Abd Allah canal leading up to Al-Faw port in southern Iraq, on June 6, 2024.

Analysis

No strangers to turmoil, Turkey-Iran to maintain ties under Mojtaba Khamenei

Ali IHSAN OZTURK / AFP via Getty Images

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

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

Turkey crypto

Despite ‘crypto winter,’ digital currency use remains high in Turkey

Crypto is down, but not out for dedicated traders, particularly in high inflation markets like Turkey, where digital tokens continue to draw users looking to earn, save and transfer hard currencies.

Co-leader of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Pervin Buldan delivers a speech during the party's meeting at the Turkish Grand National Assembly in Ankara on April 26, 2022.

Cracks in Turkey’s opposition alliance emerge over ties to HDP Kurds

Infighting within the major alliance of six Turkish opposition parties over the role of the country’s largest pro-Kurdish group has the ruling party palpably gleeful.

People wave Turkish flags in an immigrant-heavy district.

Public outcry as EU increasingly rejects Turkish visas

The Turkish public’s outcry over the growing number of EU visa rejections has prompted the Turkish government to threaten the EU with countermeasures, but the matter will unlikely be resolved until underlying structural problems are addressed.

ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images

Far-right Turkish leader likens Syrian refugees to garbage, vows expulsion

Ultranationalist Meral Aksener's plans include “isolating” migrants in “concentration camps” and forcing them to return to their countries of origin against their will under a formal policy of refoulement.

(From L-R) Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (3rd-L) and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (L) attend a meeting with members of Bosnia and Herzegovina's tripartite presidency Sefik Dzaferovic (3rd-R), Milorad Dodik (2nd-L) and Zeljko Komsic (2nd R) and Bosnian Security Minister Selmo Cikotic (R) in Sarajevo on Sept. 6, 2022.

Erdogan travels to Balkans as tensions rise between former Yugoslav states

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s trip to Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia comes as ethnic rivalries bristle 30 years after the war.

Turkey economy

Turkey’s inflation tops 80% as poverty deepens

Even though Turkey’s economy continued to expand in the second quarter, the share of payments to employees dropped to the lowest level since Erdogan’s party came to power two decades ago.

Libya clash

Turkey supports Libya's Tripoli forces amid deadly battles

Turkey hosted two rival Libyan premiers in Istanbul in bid to strike a conciliation between the clashing parties.

ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images

Erdogan calls Turkey’s teachers 'looters' amid protests, calls for exam boycott

Turkey's president has called protesting teachers "looters," a derogative reminiscent of the 2013 Gezi protests.

OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images

Exiled Turkish mafia boss Sedat Peker makes new corruption claims

Presidential advisers are implicated in an alleged bribery ring targeting business figures.

Pakistan flood

Turkey sends aid to Pakistan after devastating floods

The South Asian country is also seeking help from Turkey as well as the Gulf in relation to its economic crisis.

Syrian Kurds demonstrate on June 10, 2021, in the northeastern Syrian city of Qamishli.

How realistic is Erdogan’s vision for security belt from Syria to Iraq?

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he is bent on creating an “end-to-end” security belt along Turkey’s southern borders with Syria and Iraq — a vision too ambitious given the political and topographic conditions of the areas in question.

Bitcoin

Fugitive Turkish cryptocurrency chief arrested in Albania

Faruk Fatih Ozer, who reportedly fled with $2 billion in investors' assets, had an Interpol red notice.