Senior Saudi, Turkish and Pakistani officials held talks in Tehran on Monday to stop the war from reigniting. Meanwhile CNN reports US forces could strike Iran within 96 hours of an order.
Geopolitics
US ambassador Tom Barrack says Washington could "absolutely" strike Iran this weekend, while Trump stays open to a deal. Tehran warns of an "apocalyptic war".
Geopolitics
European and Middle Eastern foreign ministers meeting in Istanbul warned that renewed US-Israeli strikes on Iran would widen the war. A Trump envoy, Mike Waltz, said Washington is ready for a long stand-off, the Financial Times reports.
Geopolitics
Turkey's Defense Ministry said on Thursday that objections from third parties cannot invalidate its maritime boundary agreement with Libya, rejecting criticism from Greece and the EU. Gerapetritis said Greece and Egypt are discussing extending their economic zones toward Cyprus, according to Politika.
Geopolitics
Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan and Indonesia have signed a defence industry pact, Premium Times reports. The Qatari Defence Ministry said the agreement aims to foster cooperation in defence manufacturing and enhance defence capabilities among the four countries.
Geopolitics
Turkey, Qatar, Pakistan and Indonesia signed a defence cooperation memorandum in Doha on Wednesday. Turkey's ruling party also plans a mandate to send military personnel to Saudi Arabia.
Geopolitics
Libya's eastern parliament ratified the maritime memorandum with Turkey, which the EU called legally void, according to Politika; Greece and Israel also condemned the move. Turkey's ruling and opposition parties defended the agreement on Wednesday, according to Daily Sabah.
Geopolitics
The parliament in eastern Libya approved the 2019 maritime boundary agreement between Turkey and Tripoli on Tuesday and revoked its 2020 boycott decision. Daily Sabah reports that Turkey welcomed the unanimous approval as a step toward strengthening bilateral relations.
Geopolitics
The text of the Mecca Defense Alliance, sent by the Foreign Ministry, was presented to the Turkish parliament on Tuesday for ratification. According to TASS, Erdogan's ruling party says the agreement is not an alternative to NATO and is open to other countries.
Geopolitics
US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner proposed that the EU resume larger Russian gas purchases, the New York Times reported on Monday, and the European Commission rejected the idea, according to TASS. Türkiye's energy minister said the country will take some of the diesel Russia supplies under its agreement with US President Donald Trump.
Geopolitics
Brent crude held near $110 on Monday amid the Mideast and Ukraine conflicts, Bloomberg reports. Reuters says prices slipped on expectations of more Russian fuel after Trump's sanction waiver.
Economy
The death toll from severe flooding in Istanbul has risen to five after the body of a missing person was found in the Golden Horn on Sunday. Cleanup and demolition operations are continuing, Daily Sabah reports.
Geopolitics
Floods in Istanbul have killed four people, and three others are listed as missing, Politika reports. Koha calls them the heaviest floods in 80 years.
Geopolitics
Romania resumed the search on Friday for seven sailors missing from a drone-hit ship. Bulgaria's defence minister asked NATO for anti-drone systems.
Geopolitics
The death toll from flooding in Istanbul has risen to four after a worker died at a school construction site in the Beykoz district, Daily Sabah reports. Search operations continue for five missing people, while the heavy rain triggered 48 landslides and damaged 300 businesses.
Geopolitics
Foreign ministers from 19 countries, including Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, condemned on Friday Colombia's decision to relocate its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, saying it violates international law. Iran also condemned the move, and Egypt separately made a diplomatic approach to Colombia, calling it a unilateral measure.
Geopolitics
Record rain flooded Istanbul this week, and the governor's office said on Thursday that three people had died and four were missing.
Geopolitics
Police raided the office of opposition broadcaster Halk TV at dawn on Wednesday, according to the Financial Times and the broadcaster, and trustees were appointed in a corruption investigation, Daily Sabah reports. Le Monde notes the takeover came two weeks after the news site T24 was blocked.
Geopolitics
The Saudi-led coalition struck oil facilities around Sanaa on Tuesday after an evacuation warning. The Houthis answered with missiles and drones aimed at Riyadh and Dhahran.
Geopolitics
Turkish security sources said on Monday that PKK militants evacuated four 'areas of accommodation' in Metina in northern Iraq, according to Daily Sabah and Reuters. The Hindu describes the pullout as part of the peace process with Turkey.
Geopolitics
A tour bus collided with a truck on a highway in Turkey's Manisa province on Sunday, killing at least 11 people and injuring 27, local authorities said. Politika reports the crash happened near Akhisar and that the cause is being determined.
Geopolitics
Turkey will bar children under 15 from social media from 1 November, with stricter age verification and new safeguards for teenagers, Daily Sabah reports. Le Monde notes that the law takes effect while Ankara is restricting freedom of expression.
Technology
The Houthis claimed a third attack on Riyadh's airport on Thursday, after earlier strikes on Saudi airports killed three people. The Saudi-led coalition vows punishment.
Geopolitics
Cemil Tugay, mayor of Türkiye's third-largest city, joined Erdoğan's ruling AK Party on Wednesday, according to Daily Sabah. He previously belonged to the opposition CHP and, as FAZ notes, still called switching parties "indecent" in 2025.
Geopolitics
Turkey is sending mainly defensive and technical support to Saudi Arabia against the Houthis, two officials said on Wednesday. Syria denied reports that it may join.
Geopolitics
Cemil Tugay, mayor of Izmir, Turkey's third-largest city and an opposition stronghold, joined President Erdoğan's AKP on Wednesday. The Guardian reports that he had vowed never to switch sides, and that the move comes amid a political crackdown.
Geopolitics
Yemen's government says it pushed the Houthis back near the Bab el-Mandeb strait, which the Houthis deny. The Houthis meanwhile struck Saudi airports.
Geopolitics
Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey invoked their Mecca defence pact on Monday, citing Houthi attacks. Neither the size nor the role of the forces has been disclosed.
Geopolitics
Saudi-backed Yemeni forces claim control of the Bab el-Mandeb area as their offensive against the Houthis continues. The Houthis deny this and are striking Saudi targets.
Geopolitics
A Turkish-owned ship carrying corn sank in Romania's economic zone on Monday, killing two crew members. Ukraine blames two Russian drones, while Romania has not confirmed the cause.
Geopolitics
The WFP cut Gaza food aid by 50% for lack of funds, Telesur reports. Israeli strikes killed at least six Palestinians at the weekend.
Geopolitics
Moscow's mayor said about 600 drones headed for the city overnight; Russian missiles struck Kyiv and Kryvyi Rih.
Geopolitics
Parliament has adopted an amnesty law for members of the PKK, which President Erdoğan presents as a gift of peace. The FAZ writes that something quite different lies behind the move, with critics reading the law as a political trade rather than an opening of democratic space.
Geopolitics
Locals spotted a suspicious object on a beach in Sakarya, the third piece of drone wreckage found in Turkey within a single day, the Turkish newspaper Nefes reported according to TASS. On Saturday, the agency IHA reported wreckage of unknown origin on the coast in Istanbul's Arnavutköy district.
Geopolitics
Russia has turned down Kyiv's offer of a mutual halt to attacks in the Black Sea. Strikes on ports on both sides continue.
Geopolitics
Cairo is examining the legal issues around joining the Mecca Agreement, the defence pact signed by Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey, The National reported on Friday. Turkish Foreign Minister Fidan said Ankara and Cairo would continue to deepen their ties, while the Iranian daily Javan called the pact a message to Washington.
Geopolitics
Türkiye imported around 1.01 billion cubic metres of pipeline gas from Azerbaijan in June, pushing Russia into second place, Daily Sabah reported on Friday, citing official data. It is the first time Azerbaijan has led Turkish pipeline gas imports.
Economy
Kyiv has offered Moscow a mutual halt to attacks on civilian ships in the Black Sea, sent via a third country. Moscow says no formal proposal has reached it.
Geopolitics
An Israeli drone killed Gaza City's police chief, Colonel Jamal Abu Kamil, on Thursday, a day after Israel resumed air raids. A second strike killed one person in Khan Younis.
Geopolitics
Turkey's Defence Ministry set out on Thursday how the Mecca pact with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan will work: no common enemy, and a complement to NATO rather than a rival.
Geopolitics
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan received the lawmakers Pervin Buldan and Mithat Sancar of the DEM Party's İmralı delegation at the Presidential Complex in Ankara on Thursday, together with families of fallen soldiers, Daily Sabah reported. It was the first such meeting since the framework law on reintegration entered into force.
Geopolitics
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan co-chaired the second meeting of the Türkiye-Egypt Joint Planning Group with his Egyptian counterpart Badr Abdelatty in El Alamein on Thursday. On the same day Fidan met Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Fahmy and the head of Egypt's General Intelligence Service, Maj. Gen. Hassan Rashad.
Geopolitics
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan ended a two-day visit to Libya's rival governments on Wednesday, as a drone destroyed a power substation near Zawiya.
Geopolitics
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday he hoped more countries would join the mutual defence agreement signed last week by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, which he described as a stabilising factor for the region. The same day, Iran called on six major Muslim states, Turkey among them, to take a leading role in strengthening unity in the Islamic world.
Geopolitics
Business associations said the reintegration law, passed in the early hours of Tuesday, would lift investor confidence and unlock spending in Turkey's southeast and east after nearly forty years of conflict. Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş called the text balanced, and officials argue that security money can now be redirected to public welfare.
Geopolitics
Thousands of Gaza patients still await medical evacuation, with transfers running three to four times a week, the WHO said on Tuesday. Russia's UN envoy called the US peace plan stalled.
Geopolitics
Turkey's parliament approved the law dissolving the PKK in the early hours of Tuesday. In the Kurdish southeast, the conditional pardons drew relief and doubt.
Geopolitics
Explosive drones hit fuel tanks at Libya's Zawiya oil complex, a day after a car bomb killed the military intelligence chief of Khalifa Haftar's forces. Crews brought the fires under control on Tuesday.
Geopolitics
US officials deemed an Iranian threat against President Donald Trump credible during his visit to Turkey last month and flew him out aboard a military jet after he had boarded another aircraft, Daily Sabah reported on Tuesday. Trump said he slipped away from Air Force One because of the threat, and the plane swap has triggered questions and confusion, according to The Hindu.
Geopolitics
Qatar on Tuesday endorsed the collective defence agreement that Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed on Friday in Mecca, calling it a positive step towards greater regional security, Daily Sabah reported. In New Delhi the pact has raised questions over whether Pakistan could use it to build wider security ties with Muslim-majority countries, according to the South China Morning Post.
Geopolitics
Turkey's parliament passed a law on Monday letting PKK fighters who disarm return to civilian life. Its leadership called the terms deficient.
Geopolitics
The IAEA is to remove nuclear material from an undisclosed site in Syria under a US-brokered deal. Syrian officials say they did not know it was there.
Geopolitics
Houthi missiles and drones struck Yemen's government-held port of al-Makha in two waves on Sunday. The same morning the rebels claimed a drone attack on Aramco's Jazan refinery.
Geopolitics
Turkey's foreign minister Hakan Fidan says Egypt could join the defence pact signed on Friday by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan. Islamabad calls it purely defensive.
Geopolitics
Turkish officials said on Sunday that passage through the Turkish Straits to the Black Sea is continuing smoothly after delays linked to the war between Russia and Ukraine. TASS reports that the owner of the MV Reyhan Sari, attacked by a drone in July while carrying coal from the Russian port of Taman to Trabzon, plans to take Ukraine to international arbitration.
Economy
Lawmakers in Ankara are to convene one last time before the summer recess to pass legislation underpinning the 'terror-free Türkiye' process, Daily Sabah reported on Sunday. The process follows the disarmament of the PKK.
Geopolitics
Turkey's foreign minister Hakan Fidan said on Saturday the new Saudi-Turkish-Pakistani defence pact is technically the same as NATO's Article 5, but names no common threat.
Geopolitics
After a surge of attacks on ships, Turkey has begun restricting Black Sea traffic, Bloomberg reported on Saturday. Its foreign ministry warns the escalation could hit food security.
Economy
Turkey's parliament approved legislation intended to advance a settlement with Kurdish militants, The Hindu reported on Saturday. The bill is a further step in the process that followed the PKK's move to disarm.
Geopolitics
Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan signed a trilateral defence pact in Mecca on Friday. It declares an armed attack on any one of the three an attack on all.
Geopolitics
Houthi missiles and drones killed at least 58 Yemeni government soldiers at camps in Marib and Hadramawt on Thursday, the deadliest day since the 2022 truce. The same attacks wounded 11 civilians across the border in Saudi Arabia's Najran region.
Geopolitics
Ukraine has completely stopped exporting agricultural products through the Black Sea after Russian strikes on Odesa, a route that carried about 85% of such exports before July, Agrarian Policy Minister Taras Vysotsky said. TASS reports 6,835 vehicles queued at the Polish border and a drone strike on the Turkish cargo ship MV Gulluk near Novorossiysk, while Bloomberg reports that Washington says Kyiv will avoid targeting tankers and a Black Sea oil site.
Economy
A 12-article draft Law on Strengthening National Solidarity and Social Integration was set for the agenda of the Turkish parliament's Justice Committee on Friday, Daily Sabah reported. FAZ reported that the linked amnesty, meant to allow PKK members to be released or to return to Turkey, will not apply to all of them.
Geopolitics
The ruling AK Party presented a draft law on the dissolution of the PKK to the Turkish parliament on Wednesday, Daily Sabah reported. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan welcomed the submission as the next stage of the 'Terror-Free Türkiye' initiative and called it a product of broad political consensus.
Geopolitics
Türkiye's foreign ministry renewed its call for Black Sea safety on Tuesday after a drone attack injured several crew members on two civilian vessels; TASS said the crew of the Nadezhda are under medical care in Novorossiysk following what it called a Ukrainian drone attack, and reported another ship ablaze off Odesa. Russian insurers have effectively stopped covering war and terrorism risks for cargo ships in the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea, the business outlet RBC reported, citing industry sources.
Geopolitics
A new bill tied to the 'terror-free Türkiye' initiative is making the rounds among lawmakers, Daily Sabah reported on Tuesday. Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the governing coalition's ally MHP and one of the architects of the initiative, was among the first politicians to sign it.
Geopolitics
An Israeli air strike killed two Palestinians in a car in Gaza City on Monday evening, medics said. The truce's mediators, Türkiye, Egypt and Qatar, condemned Israel's ceasefire violations the same day.
Geopolitics
After its envoy met Prime Minister Netanyahu on Monday, the US-led Board of Peace said Israeli forces will leave Gaza only once Hamas has handed over all weapons. Israel refuses to pull back before disarmament, Hamas refuses to disarm before a pullback.
Geopolitics
A drone struck a Turkish-owned roll-on/roll-off cargo ship in the Black Sea on Monday and critically injured three crew members, Turkish maritime authorities said according to Daily Sabah. The report does not say who launched the drone.
Geopolitics
A Turkish minister said Ankara has updated its military readiness regarding Cyprus, Daily Sabah reported on Sunday. The step follows a visit by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to the divided island, which the paper described as signalling renewed momentum toward a settlement.
Geopolitics
US President Donald Trump has again signalled support for selling F-35 fighter jets to Turkey despite Israeli opposition, Al Jazeera reports. Such a sale would reverse Ankara's exclusion from the programme.
Geopolitics
Ankara called the energy alliance with Baghdad a historic step: Turkish Petroleum is to take a stake in the BP-run Kirkuk oilfield, which could bring Turkiye one million barrels of Iraqi oil a day, according to Al Jazeera. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iraqi officials also signed agreements on Tuesday deepening cooperation on security, defence, trade and infrastructure.
Economy
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan instructed his government to draft a framework law advancing the 'terror-free Türkiye' initiative to disarm the PKK, Daily Sabah reported. The bill is expected to reach parliament soon.
Geopolitics
US President Donald Trump brushed aside reported Israeli opposition to a potential sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, praising Ankara as "a tremendous ally", Daily Sabah reported. A sale would reverse the US position held since Turkey acquired Russian air defence systems.
Geopolitics
The ruling Justice and Development Party said Turkey expects to present the legal framework for its "Terror-Free Türkiye" initiative before parliament adjourns for its summer recess, according to Daily Sabah. The legislation is intended to underpin the process aimed at ending the conflict with the PKK.
Geopolitics
Nearly 300,000 people in Spain and France have been ordered to evacuate or shelter indoors as large wildfires advance on the Madrid region and the area around Bordeaux. Two fires in the neighbouring Spanish provinces of Madrid and Ávila alone have burned some 25,000 hectares and are now being run under a single emergency command. France is deploying a converted Airbus A400M military transport as a firefighting aircraft for the first time, while Turkey, Greece, Italy and Portugal are sending help to Spain.
Geopolitics
A new report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification says acute malnutrition in Gaza has fallen since famine was declared in parts of the territory in August last year, helped by increased aid deliveries and reduced fighting after the October 2025 cease-fire. Still, about 1.2 million people — 59 percent of the population — were acutely food insecure between April and June. The IPC warns that shrinking funding and humanitarian access could push that figure above 1.4 million by the end of 2026.
Geopolitics
Türkiye is expected to bring a long-awaited framework bill to parliament next week as part of its "terror-free Türkiye" initiative, Daily Sabah reports. The legislation would establish the legal basis for the disarmament of the PKK.
Geopolitics
Ninety deputies led by former Republican People's Party leader Özgür Özel resigned from Türkiye's main opposition party on Friday, according to Daily Sabah. The move formalises what the outlet calls the biggest split in the party's history.
Geopolitics
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan welcomed Türkiye's admission as an ASEAN Dialogue Partner, Daily Sabah reported. Analysts cited by the outlet see the step as advancing Ankara's long-term Asia strategy.
Geopolitics
A central bank survey published on Friday showed inflation expectations among Turkish households and the real sector edged down in July, Daily Sabah reported. Forecasts by market participants rose slightly over the same period.
Economy