Last week, Saudi Arabia called an urgent meeting of the military chiefs of Turkey and Pakistan under the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, as Houthi attacks on the kingdom intensified. When the chiefs met in Riyadh on September 25, they discussed intelligence sharing, military coordination and the integration of defense capabilities. The meeting has renewed the question of whether Turkey could be drawn into the war in Yemen.

Over the weekend of September 11–13, Yemen's Houthis captured the Red Sea port of Mocha and the island of Perim, completing their takeover of Yemen's Red Sea coast and increasing their control over the Bab al-Mandeb strait. Saudi Arabia was forced to shut down a critical oil pipeline that had become one of the kingdom's principal outlets to the sea after Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

On September 3, Turkey's central bank took back 16 tons of gold that it had pledged as security for a loan of roughly $1.8 billion in dollars. It was the last in a series of such deals that began with the Iran war, and the return lifted Turkey's gold reserves to 791.4 tons.

The leaders of Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement on August 7, declaring that an armed attack on any one of the three countries would be treated as an attack on all. The agreement is open to other countries, with Egypt and Qatar among the states that could potentially join.

On August 7, 2026, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan signed a trilateral defense pact in Mecca, each committing to treat an attack on one as an attack on all. Coming amid the Iran-US war and a renewed Houthi threat to Saudi Arabia, the agreement has drawn immediate comparison to NATO's Article 5. Our experts weigh in.

Turkey stands closer to ending its four-decade war with the PKK. A draft framework law, the product of more than two years of negotiations with the imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, reached parliament this week, and a plenary vote is expected soon. An end to the armed conflict would benefit Turkey and the wider region. The way the government has drafted the law and managed the process, however, carries several warning signs that temper such optimism.

It has been five years since the failed coup attempt in Turkey and no one has any clear idea yet what actually happened that night. While the complete narrative and evidence about the failed coup have yet to be clarified, the scope of the reaction by the Turkish government to the coup attempt was quite horrifying.

In the past year, through our various publications, analyses and podcasts, instituDE has strived to shed light on Turkey; its domestic politics, economy, foreign policy and human rights situation. We have worked to provide valuable information and comments on Turkey for the foreign observers as well as the Turkish public. We put effort into raising awareness on the human rights violations and authoritarian practices in Turkey.