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Turkey

Turkey

May 12, 2026

Ankara 3:15 pm

24°C

Turkish Red Crescent's cars and trucks cross the Turkish border as they leave the Syrian city of Tel Abyad on Oct. 19, 2019, in Akcakale, Turkey.

Turkey's border reopening unlocks new sphere of influence in Syria

Turkey reopened the Akcakale-Tell Abyad crossing on Monday, ending an 11-year closure along the Syria border.

ISTANBUL, TURKEY - MAY 06: A man poses for a photograph in front of the newly unveiled, Turkish made intercontinental ballistic missile Yildirimhan at the SAHA International Defence and Aerospace Expo on May 06, 2026 in Istanbul, Turkey. The International Defence and Aerospace Exhibition, showcased Turkish and foreign companies new products and technology. The expo was dominated by UAV products as modern warfare increasingly shifts to drone and unmanned technologies. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

Analysis

From drones to deterrence: Turkey's ICBM missile signals bigger ambitions

Turkey’s planned test of a 6,000-kilometer missile could boost Ankara’s defense industry prestige, strengthen its deterrence messaging and feed a powerful domestic narrative of technological self-reliance, but it also raises questions about cost, timing and NATO protection.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

MURAT KOCABAS/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

Culture

How ‘dog mom’ vacuum cleaner ad sparked culture war in Turkey

A Mother’s Day advertisement featuring a “dog mom” triggered a backlash from conservative media, government officials and regulators, turning a soft consumer campaign into a flashpoint over motherhood, declining birth rates, stray dogs and even antisemitism.

Latest News

Turkey, Japan launch defense industry partnership with eye on drones

People look at a drone on display at the Baykar exhibit at the SAHA International Defence and Aerospace Expo on May 06, 2026 in Istanbul, Turkey.

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

Palestinian children hoping to cross into Egypt, look out of a bus window at the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the southern Gaza Strip October 8, 2013. Egypt partially reopened its border crossing with the Gaza Strip for four days on Tuesday for the humanitarian needs of patients seeking treatment, and students studying outside of Gaza, a Palestinian official said. REUTERS/Ahmed Zakot (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY SOCIETY IMMIGRATION) - RTX143OA

Solidarity Visits to Gaza Dwindle

International solidarity delegations to Gaza have struggled to enter the territory since Egypt's tightening of its blockade, cutting off a vital source of essential medical assistance.

Protesters argue with municipality workers during a demonstration against reconstruction plans that include a part of the Middle East Technical University campus in Ankara October 21, 2013. The municipality plan, opposed by the students, involves building a road across the Middle East Technical University campus and uprooting a large number of trees in the area. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST EDUCATION) - RTX14IMG

Why Turks Are Fighting Over Trees

The controversy over thousands of trees to be uprooted on a university campus in Ankara for a construction project is reminiscent of Gezi Park.

A man cleans apples for sale in the city of Aleppo October 5, 2013. REUTERS/Muzaffar Salman (SYRIA - Tags: FOOD SOCIETY BUSINESS) - RTR3FMF8

Aleppo's war economy

Residents of Aleppo have moved beyond the initial shocks of war and are adjusting to make ends meet.

Iraq's Defense Ministry spokesman Major-General Mohammed al-Askari holds a news conference in Baghdad January 18, 2010. Askari showed a picture of an al-Qaeda member named Ali Mamoun Qasim, who they say is a pharmacist responsible for killing military officers and wounding Iraqi police at a hospital in Mosul. REUTERS/Saad Shalash (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST) - RTR290V1

Al-Qaeda Sinks Roots in Mosul

Al-Qaeda continues to gain strength in Iraq, taxing the residents of Mosul, attacking minorities and "collaborators" and making the city a base of operations in Ninevah province.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu shows a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) pin after a signing ceremony granting Turkey a partner status in SCO, in Almaty April 26, 2013. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov (KAZAKHSTAN - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS) - RTXZ0SB

Turkey's Road to China

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said NATO or any other country does not have the right to question Turkey’s decision to co-produce missiles with China.

Turkey's Prime Minister and leader of ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Tayyip Erdogan (R) welcomes his guest Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal during the AKP congress in Ankara September 30, 2012. Erdogan trumpeted Turkey's credentials as a rising democratic power on Sunday, saying his Islamist-rooted ruling party had become an example to the Muslim world after a decade in charge. Addressing thousands of party members and regional leaders at a congress of his Justice and Development (AK) Party, Erdogan

Turkey on Defensive Over Hamas

Claims that Turkey is obstructing Palestinian reconciliation are fueling the AKP's belief in an international campaign to isolate Ankara politically at an already low point in its foreign relations.

The U.N. special advisor on Yemen Jamal Benomar, who helped broker a power transfer deal, drafted by the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council and signed in November last year to pull back Yemen from the brink of civil war, leaves the House of Representatives (Parliament) in Sanaa January 14, 2012. The house on Saturday postponed for the third time a debate on a draft law proposed by the opposition-led government to give President Ali Abdullah Saleh immunity from prosecution. Yemen's cabinet proposed an immun

UN Envoy on Yemen Deserves Spotlight

Jamal Benomar, special adviser on Yemen to the UN secretary-general, has succeeded with a difficult brief.

Helal Sex Shop.JPG

Turkey’s Online 'Halal' Sex Shop Draws Ridicule, Criticism

The Turkish media's response to the nation's first "halal" online sex shop has been a mixture of criticism and ridicule.

Turkey’s Spymaster: The Making of a Hero

An impressive campaign by Hakan Fidan’s media team has made almost an entire nation worship him.

Turkish Airlines pilot Murat Agca talks to media at Istanbul's Ataturk airport October 19, 2013. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan personally greeted two kidnapped Turkish pilots when they arrived back in Istanbul on Saturday after two months in captivity in Lebanon. The pair were released earlier under a deal whereby nine Lebanese hostages were freed in Syria and allowed to return home via Turkey. The Turkish pilots had been abducted in retaliation for the snatching of the Lebanese. REUTERS/Osman Orsal (TURKEY

Turkey Rescues Its Pilots in Swap Deal

Turkey’s silent diplomacy yielded results on Oct.19, when it rescued the two Turkish Airlines pilots kidnapped in Beirut on Aug. 9.

Turkey: The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Of the Hakan Fidan Story

During a 10-day holiday break, a series of Western news reports roiled Turkey's pro-government establishment.

Demonstrators hold Kurdish flags and flags with portraits of jailed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan during a gathering to celebrate Newroz in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir March 21, 2013. Ocalan ordered his fighters on Thursday to cease fire and withdraw from Turkish soil as a step to ending a conflict that has killed 40,000 people, riven the country and battered its economy. Hundreds of thousands of Kurds, gathered in the regional centre of Diyarbakir, cheered and waved b

Turkish Intelligence ChiefBoth Iconoclast and Target

Hakan Fidan, Turkey’s highly intellectual and pro-West intelligence chief, has drawn a lot of attention and criticism as the architect of the peace process with the PKK.