A coated turning insert particularly useful for turning in stainless steel is disclosed. The insert is characterized by a WC--Co-based cemented carbide substrate having a highly W-alloyed Co-binder phase and a coating including an inner layer of TiC.sub.xN.sub.yO.sub.z with columnar grains followed by a layer of fine-grained, .kappa.-Al.sub.2O.sub.3 and a top layer of TiN. The layers are deposited by using CVD methods.