As an American-led consensus appears to be developing around the use of United Nations sanctions in dealing with Iran's controversial nuclear program, Turkey continues to play the role of wild card.
Turkey watchers in Washington must have been feeling a sense of déjà vu after the March 4 passage by a congressional committee of a resolution recognizing the mass killing of Armenians during World War I as genocide.
When he shot Pope John Paul II in 1981 in St. Peter's Square, would-be assassin Mehmet Ali Agca was, for most of the world, a mysterious and enigmatic figure, one who seemed to come out of nowhere.
Analysts are cautioning that a diplomatic spat between Turkey and Israel is damaging an already strained relationship, and may further undermine Israel's public image in Turkey.
Official rhetoric in recent months has fostered hope that Turkey can implement a civilian - rather than a military - solution to its decades-long Kurdish problem. Those hopes, however, remain fragile -- a fact underscored by the opening of a court case that could result in the banning of the country's major pro-Kurdish political party.
Is the Turkish government trying to break the back of a media conglomerate that has served as its most vocal opposition by slapping it with a whopping $2.5 billion tax penalty?
