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Turkey

Turkey

November 3, 2026

Ankara 8:17 pm

14°C

Turkey probes Google’s AI search tools, orders protections for news websites

Turkey’s competition watchdog said it is assessing whether AI-generated answers appearing on Google Search divert traffic from news sites and impose unfair content-use terms.

A protestor holds a flag bearing a portrait of jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan during a demonstration of Kurdish people from all around Europe to mark the 27th anniversary of his arrest and to demand his liberation, in Strasbourg, Eastern France, on Feb. 14, 2026.

Turkey moves PKK leader Ocalan to prison villa as peace process faces new test

The move is expected to give the PKK leader a more direct role in negotiations, but deep divisions over disarmament and Kurdish rights continue to threaten the process.

OSCE Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioglu is pictured during a joint press conference with the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Switzerland's Foreign Minister at Vienna International Airport on Feb. 6, 2026 in Schwechat, Lower Austria.

Explainer

Who is Feridun Sinirlioglu, Turkey’s candidate for UN chief?

The Turkish president's confidant enters the race for UN chief with decades of diplomatic experience marked by both praise and scrutiny.

Demonstrators hold a banner reading "Free Gaza, free world"

Analysis

Gaza progress, Syria pullback: What Turkey wants from Israel’s next government

Ankara sees room for limited improvement in ties if Israel’s next government eases Gaza’s humanitarian crisis and reduces military pressure on Syria.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Latest News

Explainer

After EU rebuff, how Turkey is courting Egypt for maritime deal

Turkish Navy sailors wave their caps from the flight deck

Culture

Rock collapse near UNESCO-listed site in Turkey’s Cappadocia kills three

An view of the Uchisar settlement, east of Nevesehir in the province of the same name in central Turkey's historical Cappadocia region on Aug. 24, 2022.

Tornado kills 4 in Turkey’s Mediterranean tourism hub Antalya

Kepez

Saudi Arabia’s KBS, top Turkish and Pakistani officials hold rare meeting in Iran: What to know

GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT/AFP via Getty Images

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

How one Kurdish woman went from child soldier to Swedish lawmaker

Swedish parliamentarian Amineh Kakabaveh tells Al-Monitor about her remarkable journey from Kurdish guerrilla camps in Iraq’s mountains to the rostrum of European politics.

Turkish Airlines aircrafts are parked at the Ataturk International airport in Istanbul, Turkey December 3, 2015. Turkish Airlines, Europe's fourth biggest carrier, said the number of its passengers rose 8.1 year-on-year in January to 4.7 million. In a statement to the Istanbul stock exchange on Tuesday evening February 16, 2016, it said load factor, which measures an airline's capacity utilisation, declined by 2.2 percentage points to 74.2. Picture taken December 3, 2015. REUTERS/Murad Sezer - RTX27BA3

To stop tourism slump, Erdogan asks Turks to holiday at home

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is asking Turks to spend their holidays in Turkey, to alleviate the loss in revenue of Russian tourists who will not travel to Turkey this year.

Soldiers stand guard at the Jordanian-Syrian border, near Mafraq, August 16, 2015. Commander of the Jordanian Border Guard, Brigadier General Saber Mahayrah, said on Sunday that there was no sign of Nusra Front or Islamist State fighters on the border between Jordan and Syria. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed - RTX1OELU

Will Saudi Arabia pressure Jordan to join ground offensive in Syria?

There is increasing talk about a land war in Syria to combat the Islamic State, but the Jordanians thus far appear reluctant to get involved.

Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah addresses his supporters through a giant screen during a rally commemorating the annual Hezbollah Martyrs' Leader Day in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon February 16, 2016. REUTERS/Aziz Taher - RTX278R4

Does Hezbollah seek Israel’s elimination? 'Not so,' says Nasrallah

Hezbollah leader says group will not open new front against Israel; Turkey’s two-front war; battles for Aleppo “unlike any others”; Saudi military exercise provides distraction.

Fighters from the Democratic Forces of Syria position themselves in Ghazila village after taking control of the town from Islamic State forces in the southern countryside of Hasaka, Syria February 17, 2016. Picture taken February 17, 2016. REUTERS/Rodi Said - RTX27JLM

Can Ankara's plans keep up with Syria's escalation?

The course of events in Syria offer opportunities but also new threats to Ankara, which still has to deal with structural flaws in its Syrian policy.

A Turkish Air Force F-16 fighter jet ( C foreground) is seen between U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II fighter jets at Incirlik airbase in the southern city of Adana, Turkey, December 11, 2015. REUTERS/Umit Bektas - RTX1Y843

Is Turkey crushing Kurdish self-rule in Syria?

Turkey seems intent on using the Feb. 17 bombing in Ankara as a pretext to crush the fledgling Kurdish self-rule in northern Syria that serves as an inspiration to its own Kurds.

Was last week's Ankara attack just the beginning?

The suicide bomb in Ankara on Feb. 17 was the first of its kind, and Ankara is now under pressure to make critical decisions.

Forensic experts examine a street near the site of last night's explosion in Ankara, Turkey, February 18, 2016. Twenty-eight people were killed and dozens wounded in Turkey's capital Ankara on Wednesday when a car laden with explosives detonated next to military buses near the armed forces' headquarters, parliament and other government buildings. REUTERS/Umit Bektas - RTX27GGV

Ankara attack spawns conspiracy theories

Turkey was a little too quick to identify the alleged perpetrator of the Ankara blast as a YPG-affiliated Syrian Kurd, and many observers mistrust the government's version of the story.

CHP's rising Christian star subjected to hate speech

A newspaper's revelation about the Christian heritage of an opposition parliamentarian has created another rift in the ruling AKP and opened a dialogue on interfaith marriage.

Rebel fighters escort a Syrian Arab Red Crescent aid convoy heading towards the villages of al-Foua and Kefraya in Idlib province, Syria February 17, 2016. REUTERS/Ammar Abdullah TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RTX27EF4

Will aid deliveries to Syria help advance peace talks?

The United States said it would meet with Russia in Geneva on Feb. 19 for consultations on how to implement a Syria truce, as the United Nations said Feb. 17 that it was able to deliver 100 trucks of humanitarian aid to five besieged Syrian towns.

Singer Justin Bieber performs on NBC's 'Today' show in New York November 18, 2015. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid - RTS7SU3

Can Bieber fever rescue Turkey's tourism trade?

Turkey's tourism business has checked out without paying its tab, and officials are considering enlisting US celebrities like Justin Bieber to help counteract the effects of terrorist attacks and Russian sanctions.

Why Turkey is losing hope in Syrian border town of Azaz

Turkey is engaged in two battles to keep the Azaz-Marea line open after losing the Aleppo corridor.