Turkey - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Turkey

Turkey

May 13, 2026

Ankara 8:14 pm

19°C

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, and Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan shake hands before a meeting at Prague Castle in Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022.

Turkey, Armenia to launch direct trade in normalization push: What to know

The move removes a decades-old reexport mechanism routed largely through Georgia as Ankara and Yerevan step up normalization efforts.

The helicopter of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lands on Abdulhamid Han drill ship, the fourth built by Turkey, in Mersin on Aug. 9, 2022, before being sent for gas exploration to an undisputed area in the Mediterranean Sea, south of Gazipasa.

New Turkey maritime draft bill fuels EastMed tensions with Greece, Cyprus

Turkey’s draft maritime bill seeks to formalize Ankara’s claims in the Aegean, Eastern Mediterranean and Black seas, raising tensions with Greece and Cyprus over contested maritime boundaries and offshore energy rights.

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.

Latest News

Analysis

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

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)

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Culture

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

MURAT KOCABAS/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

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

Indonesian workers ready to fly to Saudi Arabia to work as maids wait at a shelter during a police inspection in Bekasi, Indonesia's West Java province, June 22, 2011. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono decide to apply a moratorium on sending Indonesian workers to Saudi Arabia be effect on August 1 after a 54-year-old Indonesian maid was beheaded on Saturday, convicted of murdering her Saudi employer, Yudhoyono said on Thursday on a live TV broadcast. Picture taken June 22, 2011. REUTERS/Sulth

Maid in Saudi Arabia

Human trafficking and abuse of domestic workers continue in the kingdom.

Anti-government protesters, who call themselves ''anti-capitalist Muslims'', shout slogans during a demonstration in Istanbul June 23, 2013. The European Union is on the verge of scrapping a new round of membership talks with Turkey, a move that would further undermine Ankara's already slim hopes of joining the bloc and damage its relations with Brussels. Germany, the EU's biggest economic power, is blocking efforts to revive Turkey's EU membership bid, partly because of its handling of anti-government prot

Why Turkey Has 'Anti-Capitalist Muslims'

İhsan Eliaçık, the group's leader, believes that the Islamic duty is not just caring for the poor, but overthrowing the capitalist “system” that he thinks makes them poor.

Protesters shout slogans as they block the main Istiklal street in central Istanbul late July 8, 2013. Turkish police fired teargas and water cannon on Monday at protesters who tried to defy a closure order and enter an Istanbul park at the centre of protests against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government. Gezi Park was only open for a few hours after Istanbul's governor allowed people back in, following often violent protests last month against plans to redevelop the area, when riot police ordered it s

Turkey’s 'Erdogan Problem'

Although Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared in September 2012 that he won’t run for parliamentary office again, his decisions on his next step will determine the future of Turkish politics.

People walk past a display board at a currency exchange office in Istanbul July 11, 2013. Turkey's central bank faced calls on Thursday to raise interest rates to steady the embattled lira despite political pressure from Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to keep rates low - a dilemma which could put the bank's credibility at stake. REUTERS/Osman Orsal (TURKEY - Tags: BUSINESS) - RTX11JW3

Erdogan Flips on Turkey’s 'Interest Lobby'

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had blamed the “interest lobby,” or domestic and foreign financial institutions, for the Gezi Park protests, but now he is raising interest rates.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan displays a watch with a signature of former Prime Minister Adnan Menderes engraved on it, during a rally of his ruling AK Party to campaign for Sunday's early parliamentary elections in Turkey's Black Sea city of Trabzon July 20, 2007. The watch was presented to him by a supporter. REUTERS/Fatih Saribas (TURKEY) - RTR1S2C8

Erdogan’s Muddled Plan For Yassiada Memorial

Erdogan uses a historical tragedy to initiate a profit-oriented project on Yassiada Island, the symbol of the 1960 coup that resulted in the execution of then-premier Adnan Menderes, the man Erdogan idolizes.

Kurdish female fighters from the Popular Protection Units (YPG) take positions to guard the area in Aleppo's Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, June 19, 2013. Kurdish fighters from the Popular Protection Units (YPG) joined the Free Syrian Army to fight against forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad. Picture taken June 19, 2013. REUTERS/Nour Kelze (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTX10UJ9

Kurdish Rebel Group in Turkey Re-Focuses on Syria

A change in the PKK leadership has prompted debate over Turkey’s Kurdish peace initiative and Syria policies.

Iraqi men walk past posters advertising a pornographic film at a cinema
in Baghdad, April 30, 2003. Pornography and prostitution was officially
banned under the regime of Saddam Hussein until his ousting from power
by U.S.-led forces two weeks ago.

REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra - RTRMOD7

Iraq’s Sex Trade Thrives

Given the lax security situation since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, the country’s sex trade has proliferated.

A Turkish flag flutters near the monument of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk at Taksim Square in Istanbul June 24, 2013. REUTERS/Marko Djurica (TURKEY - Tags: SOCIETY) - RTX10Z87

How Can Turkey Bounce Back In the Middle East?

Turkey's AKP government must alter its Islamic-based “exclusionary policies,” stabilize political and economic ties with Iraq and Iran and restore normalcy to its relations with Israel.

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (L) and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu arrive at a ceremony in Ankara September 6, 2011. Erdogan said on Tuesday that Turkey was "totally suspending" defence industry ties with Israel, after downgrading diplomatic relations with the Jewish state. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR2QV66

The Islamization of Turkey’s Foreign Ministry

With recent legislative changes, AKP will now be able to appoint its cadres as ambassadors and give them senior posts in the Foreign Ministry.

An Israeli security forces member stands by as a Jordanian helicopter starts to lift off to take U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to Amman, in Jerusalem, June 29, 2013. Kerry was bound for a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Amman, Jordan. REUTERS/Jacquelyn Martin/Pool (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX115RJ

US Outs Israel on Syria Attack? Blame Edward Snowden

Why are the Americans providing the international media with information about alleged covert Israeli operations while the Europeans are ratcheting up the settlement boycott?

Relatives and friends of Savas Yayik pray behind his coffin during a funeral ceremony in Diyarbakir in the Kurdish-dominated southeastern Turkey April 26, 2011. Turkish security forces killed three Kurdish guerrillas, including Yayik, in a firefight in southeast Turkey, according to media reports last week, after two days of street clashes across the region. There was no indication of any link between those protests and the clash between soldiers and militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)

Visit to Southeast Turkey Offers Bleak View of Peace with Kurds

A visit to villages in southeast Turkey provides a window on the challenges for the Turkish-PKK peace process.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (R) speaks with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan during a meeting at the government palace in Tunis September 15, 2011. Tunisia's new political order will show that Islam and democracy can co-exist just as they have in Turkey, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday. Erdogan, in Tunis on the second stop of a North African tour aimed at asserting Ankara's growing regional influence, said secularity should guarantee that people of all beliefs, as w

Turkey, Lonely Man Of the Middle East

Turkish foreign policy is in endemic crisis because of the Islamist and sectarian foreign policies of the AKP government.