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Turkey

Turkey

May 6, 2026

Ankara 5:10 pm

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A picture taken near Kars on Feb. 28, 2024 shows the ruins of a bridge over Arpacay river, the natural border between Turkey and Armenia.

Turkey, Armenia agree to restore medieval bridge in normalization push

Ankara is pursuing normalization with Armenia ahead of June parliamentary elections in a thaw also positioned to advance its broader Middle Corridor ambitions.

Sabah Fidan

Turkey hosts Kuwaiti FM as UAE's OAPEC exit fuels Gulf rift

Kuwait's top diplomat visited Turkey as the Gulf rift deepens following the UAE’s exit from OPEC and its affiliated alliances, forcing Ankara to balance ties between Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi.

Zaidi

Analysis

Iraq’s Zaidi offers economic promise for Turkey but unknowns loom

Iraq’s prime minister-designate, Ali al-Zaidi, is expected to sustain growing economic and strategic ties with Turkey thanks to his business-oriented approach, though uncertainty over his political stance could test cooperation on sensitive issues.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Latest News

Turkey warns France over Cyprus troop deployment: What to know

Members of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), from the British Army's 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards, No. 2 Company, patrol along the buffer zone separating the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus and the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in the divided capital Nicosia on Feb. 17, 2026.

Turkey advances gas pipeline plan to northern Cyprus as East Med rivalry grows

This aerial photograph shows Turkey's first floating natural gas production platform, "Osman Gazi," passing through the Bosphorus, in Istanbul, on May 29, 2025.

In first, Libya’s rival armies to join drill in Turkey: What to know

Cadets of the Saiqa Force (Special Forces) of the self-styled Libyan National Army affiliated with eastern strongman Khalifa Hifter take part in a graduation ceremony in tribute to the force's late commander, Wanis Bukhamada, in the eastern city of Benghazi, on Jan. 20, 2022.

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

Members of the Turkish police counter attack team guarding President Tayyip Erdogan stand in front of a mosque after the President left following Friday prayers in Istanbul, Turkey, May 29, 2015. REUTERS/Murad Sezer - RTR4Y0MZ

Ankara cracks down on IS; but is it too little too late?

Turkey has recently moved to counter Islamic State recruitment in the country, but it faces a difficult time reintegrating jihadist returnees from Syria and Iraq, some of whom have been traumatized by their experiences.

A black flag belonging to Islamic State is seen near the Syrian town of Kobani as a Turkish army vehicle takes up position on the Turkish-Syrian border near the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province October 7, 2014. Islamic State fighters advanced into the south west of the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani overnight, a monitoring group said on Tuesday, taking several buildings to gain attacking positions from two sides of the city. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: CIVIL UNREST MILITARY CONFLICT

Is the Islamic State really a terrorist group? Turkey's lawyers don't think so

Turkish security services have only recently began to consider the Islamic State (IS) as a security threat, but the legal system in Turkey still does not recognize IS as a terrorist organization.

Workers, with emptied old buildings in the background, pause at a construction site at Beyoglu district in central Istanbul August 29, 2014. The Turkish Parliament amended the commercial code to allow landlords to eject tenants of 10 years or more without cause. The rule, which went into effect in July, scraps a tradition of renter-friendly laws, potentially hitting millions of businesses and residents Picture taken August 29, 2014. To match TURKEY-GENTRIFICATION/ REUTERS/Murad Sezer (TURKEY - Tags: BUSINES

Istanbul’s Disneyfication

State-led gentrification of Istanbul might be the most important and irreversible legacy of the conservative Islamist AKP government.

Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu addresses his supporters during an election rally for Turkey's June 7 parliamentary election, in Ankara, Turkey, May 31, 2015. REUTERS/Umit Bektas - RTR4Y93D

CHP leader predicts early elections in Turkey

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Turkey’s main opposition leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, said it is unlikely the AKP will be able to form a coalition government and expressed the urgent need to turn the economy around.

A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter takes up position with his weapon as he keeps watch, on the outskirts of Mosul January 26, 2015. Kurdish Peshmerga fighters are digging trenches and building defense berms in Wadi al-Ghorab (Valley Of The Crows), less than 2 km away from the IS-held Sultan Abdullah village, which demarcates the new border of their autonomous region. The Kurds have enjoyed de facto self rule since the first Gulf War in 1991. They are now closer than ever to achieving their dream of full independen

Who has 'boots on the ground' in fight against IS?

A mismatch in priorities between the United States and its Sunni allies is obliging the Obama administration to rely more on Iran-backed forces to fight the group that calls itself the Islamic State.

Coffins of victims killed in air strikes are carried by villagers during a funeral ceremony in Gulyazi near the southeastern Turkish town of Uludere, in Sirnak province, December 30, 2011. Turkish rights groups called on Friday for a U.N.-sponsored investigation after Turkish warplanes killed 35 villagers in an airstrike targeting Kurdish rebels on the Iraqi border that the government has called an operational mistake. REUTERS/Stringer (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR2VQMB

Turkey shuts down smugglers by shooting mules

The tension in villages of Uludere in Turkey that lost 34 people in an airstrike by the Turkish air force three years ago persists and frequently develops into confrontations with Turkish soldiers.

Turkey’s lively Ramadan tables

The fast-breaking Ramadan dinner in Turkey is a crowded affair where people come together to share and socialize, entertain themselves and even make political statements.

A dinghy (R) with Syrian refugees is towed by a Greek coast guard patrol boat into the port on the Greek island of Kos, following a rescue operation in a part of the Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece, early May 31, 2015. According to local media, an average of over 200 immigrants on small dinghies have been arriving in Kos every day in the last two months. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis - RTR4Y74I

A Turkish plan to bail out Greece?

After decades of disputes, can Turkey and Greece once again look to each other as allies?

Demonstrators set fire to a Chinese flag during a protest against China near the Chinese Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, July 5, 2015. China warned its citizens travelling in Turkey to be careful of anti-Beijing protests, warning them that some Chinese tourists have recently been "attacked and disturbed". The notice, posted on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website on Sunday, said that there have recently been "multiple" demonstrations in Turkey targeting the Chinese government. The notice gave no details r

China, Turkey: friends or foes?

Turkey's manipulative news reports of China's massacres of fasting Uighurs recently upended China-Turkey relations.

Turkish soldiers stand guard near the Mursitpinar border gate in Suruc, bordering with the northern Kurdish town of Kobani, in Sanliurfa province, Turkey, June 26, 2015. Islamic State fighters killed at least 145 civilians in an attack on the Syrian town of Kobani and a nearby village, in what a monitoring group described on Friday as the second worst massacre carried out by the hardline group in Syria. Fighting between the Kurdish YPG militia and Islamic State fighters who infiltrated the town at the Turki

Erdogan talks the talk but doesn't walk the walk

Turkey appears to have changed its mind on Syria, and Ankara is preparing to work closer with Washington against IS, which suggests it may be moving away from prioritizing the demise of the Assad regime.

Turkish military wary of Erdogan plan for Syrian buffer zone

The United States remains opposed to a no-fly zone in northern Syria; Masrour Barzani calls for "amicable divorce" for the Kurdistan Region of Iraq; Jacky Hugi writes that Israel should back the Syrian government "at any price."

A supporter of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan waves a scarf with an image of the president during a ceremony to mark the 562nd anniversary of the conquest of the city by Ottoman Turks, in Istanbul, Turkey, May 30, 2015. REUTERS/Murad Sezer - RTR4Y6BU

The 'who loves Erdogan more' contest

In the AKP universe, even those who dare to criticize President Recep Tayyip Erdogan feel the need to note that they love the great leader more than anybody else.