RIYADH’S BASE REQUEST TESTS ANKARA’S NEW COMMAND
The new Turkish military command overseeing all forces abroad faces its first major test in Saudi Arabia, where Riyadh seeks a larger Turkish presence.
Analysis
In-Depth Analysis
Smart, independent reporting on Turkey's politics, economy and foreign affairs.
ALIYEV DOUBLES DOWN AS ANKARA REMAINS OVERLY CONCILIATORY
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, declined President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s invitation to attend the summit of the Organization of Turkic States, scheduled for the day after Turkey’s Republic Day, marking one of the biggest crises in the two countries' close relationship. Despite Ankara’s visible steps to defuse the recent tension, his refusal to come on a date carrying symbolic importance for Turkey attests to the changing dynamics in the relationship since the military victory over Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020.
SAUDI ARAMCO INSPECTS OYAK’S FUEL NETWORK TO ENTER TURKISH MARKET
Saudi Aramco executives have inspected fuel facilities across Turkey owned by military pension fund OYAK, signaling advanced partnership talks to enter the retail fuel market.
LIMITED SUPPORT TO SAUDI ARABIA AS HOUTHI ATTACKS INTENSIFY
As Houthi attacks against Saudi Arabia intensify, Turkey is preparing to provide technical military support to its ally in the Mecca Pact.
SYRIA PROJECTS MAP INCLUDING GOLAN HEIGHTS OVER AIRBASE ISRAEL STRUCK
Syria's Defense Ministry used drones to project a map of Syria — including the Golan Heights — into the sky above Abu Duhur Military Airbase, a facility in the Idlib countryside that Israel has struck many times.
JUST WORDS BUT NO STEPS FOR MILITARY HOSPITALS
Soldier casualties have brought the need for military hospitals back to the political agenda
TURKISH F-16s STRIKE AL-SHABAAB IN SOMALIA AS MOGADISHU SCRUBS ANKARA'S NAME FROM STATEMENT
Turkey has taken another remarkable step in its military support to the African nation
SABRE-RATTLING BREAKS OUT AFTER CADETS SWEAR OATH TO ATATÜRK
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a U-turn about the oath sworn by cadets graduating from a military academy in which they drew their swords and promised to be the soldiers of Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in protecting secularism in the country. “Against whom are you drawing these swords?” asked Erdogan eight days after the incident, joining the chorus that associated the unofficial oath with the military tutelage that Turkey suffered in the past. Then, arguing that the new graduates had fallen into a trap set by others, he told a workshop arranged for religious high school graduates that he would fire those who had influenced the cadets.
EYES ON LIBYA AGAIN
The TAF is participating in a US-led military exercise in Libya, where Turkey backed the Government of National Accord (GNA) in the west during the civil war. Meanwhile, attention has again focused on the plane crash in which the GNA Chief of Staff Muhammed Ali Ahmed Al Haddad and his delegation died near Ankara on Dec. 23, 2025.
NO SIGN OF EXPLOSION ON CARGO PLANE CRASH IN GEORGIA
“It has been assessed that the life raft, having exited its housing, came into contact with the left tail-fuselage section of the aircraft, causing damage to the aircraft’s horizontal and vertical stabilizers, which may have led to the aircraft’s crash,” a Defense Ministry official said on the C-130 military aircraft that crashed on the Georgia-Azerbaijan border on Nov. 11, 2025.
ANKARA DENIES REPORTS OF IRANIAN GAS CUTOFF
Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar denied media reports that Iran stopped natural gas exports to Turkey following an Israeli military strike on the South Pars gas field on March 18.
TOP OF THE CLASS LIEUTENANT LOSES CASE TO BE REINSTATED
Ebru Eroğlu, one of five lieutenants expelled from the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) on the grounds of insubordination for raising their swords in the air and chanting the slogan “We are Mustafa Kemal’s soldiers” during the Military Academy’s swearing-in ceremony on August 30, 2024, lost the lawsuit to return to the military she filed against the Defense Ministry.