Analysis
Smart, independent reporting on Turkey's politics, economy and foreign affairs.
Let us begin with a very old and very familiar anecdote. The famous poet Yahya Kemal was once asked: “What do you like about Ankara?” His answer: “The return to Istanbul.” Mansur Yavaş thinks the exact opposite. Wherever he is, he wants to return to Ankara at the first opportunity, and he likes it when everything returns to Ankara. Not out of anxiety to make it to work on time. But because he is a man of the land. Because he is from Ankara.
Under the agreement signed between Turkey and the U.K., the £5.4 billion payment to the Eurofighter consortium for 20 Typhoon fighter jets was not included in either the Defense Ministry’s budget or the Defense Industry Presidency's (SSB) budget. The Defense Industry Support Fund (SSDF) can be used as a source of funding for this project, but the cost of the Typhoons is approximately double the annual amount transferred to the fund from taxes collected by the state.
The financial crisis facing companies in Turkey is deepening as the amount of non-performing loans from banks exceeded 519 billion lira as of the week of Oct. 24. In the January-October period of 2025, the number of companies granted a temporary moratorium on debt repayment rose to 2,326, a 72% increase year on year.
In political terms, the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan is over, but in the socio-psychological dimension, it continues, according to the Armenian prime minister. 'When I talk about peace, it seems strange and even alien to many. Peace is an unfamiliar concept for Armenia and Azerbaijan,' Nikol Pashinyan said Nov. 4 at the annual forum of the Orbeli Center, which operates under the Prime Ministry.
We’ve borrowed the headline from a famous Turkish pop song of the 1970s, “Çilli Bom Bom.” One verse goes: “Don’t leave today’s work for tomorrow / Seize the moment, don’t hesitate / The world turns fast, life is short / Tomorrow won’t do—it has to be now.” Ekrem İmamoğlu could be said to be “impatient.” Like in the song, he’s in a hurry. But to explain this as a mere character trait would be insufficient. Some attribute his impatience to being from Trabzon — in other words, a typical Black Sea temperament — but geography alone cannot explain it either.
Training for Syrian military forces by the Turkish Army has begun in accordance with the Joint Training and Advisory MoU signed between the two countries on Aug. 13, the Defense Ministry announced.
Soon after Israel launched a major ground offensive in Gaza City, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan hosted Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for an unofficial visit in the Turkish capital.
Soon after Israel launched a major ground offensive in Gaza City, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is hosting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for an unofficial visit in the Turkish capital.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that refusing to recognize court rulings amounts to openly defying the rule of law.
Twelve Turkish soldiers died from gas exposure in a PKK-used cave in northern Iraq on July 6, and two more from excessive fluid loss in Hatay on July 25, but key questions about both incidents remain unanswered.
The arithmetic in the Turkish Parliament is shifting rapidly, as party defections mount. Since the May 2023 elections, 35 lawmakers have resigned from their parties, significantly altering the composition of parliament. The İYİ Party has shrunk from 43 to 29 MPs; DEVA has dropped from 15 to 9; and Gelecek from 10 to 4. Of the defectors, 11 joined the AKP and 10 moved to the CHP. Fourteen now sit as independents.
In Turkish, “turp gibi” means “healthy as a horse'—literally, as fit as a turp/turnip. But this week, the humble vegetable shed its healthful connotations and marched into politics with muddy boots. At a raucous rally in Yozgat—where over a thousand farmers formed a tractor convoy in defiance of mounting government pressure—a farmer stood before the crowd and bellowed: “The country cannot be ruled with turnips and radishes. It is governed by justice and law” or rather, with the local accent, “A country cannae be ruled wi’ neeps an’ deeshes.”