Joe Conason examines the effect of Israel's Gaza policy on the strategic interests of Israel and the United States in the wake of the raid on the Gaza-bound aid flotilla.

Turkey's role in the Organization of the Islamic Conference has been increasing consistently after the take-over of Justice and Development Party (JDP) in 2002. Simultaneously with Turkey's increasing role in the organization, OIC, which has functioned as a non-influential international actor until recent years, has now an important agenda due to the problems of the Islamic world and USA's "Greater Middle East Project."

The Economist explores Turkey's new strategy of "reversing antagonism" with its Arab neighbors and puts it into the context of regional power vacuum.

In this op-ed, Stephen F. Larrabee explains why Turkey has renewed its engagement in the Middle East, suggesting that it is a result of structural changes in Turkey's security environment rather than a sign of "creeping Islamisation." 

Hugh Pope reports on how Turkey and Armenia's promise to establish diplomatic relations on August 31 could restore Turkey's "prestige" as a regional peace-maker and place the nation one step closer to European Union membership.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan talks to Newsweek's Owen Matthews about Islam, modernity and Turkey's role in Israel-Syria communications

Turkey is at war with itself again, over religion and politics in Turkish life, and the consequences for both itself and its friends could be devastating.

The Iraqi minister caught between the Turks and the Kurds discusses rising regional tensions—and the unexpected Syrian reaction—in the wake of a cross-border PKK raid.

This commentary by Soner Cagaptay,  a senior fellow and director of the Turkish Research Program at the Washington Institute describes the current turmoil in Turkeyas the most significant political crisis in Turkeysince 1979-80 when the then parliament failed to elect a president and, amid tension on the streets, the military intervened. The paper discusses how the ongoing tensions will evolve.

Congressional Research Service report that provides information about the current perspectives and policies of Iraq’s neighbors; analyzes potential regional responses to continued insurgency, wider sectarian or ethnic violence, and long-term stabilization; discusses shared concerns and U.S. long-term regional interests; and reviews U.S. policy options for responding to various contingencies.

This 2006 report from the Washington Institute offers a comprehensive assessment of all completed, ongoing, and planned pipeline projects in the Black Sea littoral and beyond, covering output statistics, construction and maintenance costs, key political issues, and numerous other factors. It also outlines the domestic measures Turkey will need to pursue in order to take advantage of the pipelines transiting its territory.

It is incumbent upon the leaders of the United States and Turkey to define a new partnership "in order to make a strategic relationship a reality," says a new Council on Foreign Relations–sponsored Independent Task Force chaired by former secretary of state Madeleine K. Albright and former national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley.

Ruling But Not Governing provides valuable insight into the political dynamics that perpetuate authoritarian regimes and offers novel ways to promote democratic change. In this new CFR book, author and Council Douglas Dillon Fellow Steven A. Cook highlights the critical role that the military plays in the stability of the Egyptian, Algerian, and, until recently, Turkish political systems.

“The growing schism between the West and the Islamic world is one of the primary challenges confronting American foreign and defense policymakers. As a consequence, the relationship between the United States and Turkey—a Western-oriented, democratizing Muslim country—is strategically more important than ever,” asserts a new Special Report.

Steven Cook inspects the role of Islam in Egyptian, Turkish, and Tunisian society and culture.

In the wake of President Obama's brokered telephone apology between Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, Charles Kupchan argues for new foundations to an Israeli-Turkish partnership.

Thanks to the rift between Turkey and Israel, Ankara's days as a power broker in the Arab-Israeli conflict are over, says Steven A. Cook.

Steven A. Cook says leadership in the Middle East is up for grabs as the Syrian war intensifies, the Arab Spring changes regional power dynamics, and Israel's airstrikes and Hamas rockets again roil Gaza. Last year, Turkey was the assumed role model for the region. But it has fallen down on the job.

Steven A. Cook says Mohamed Morsi's victory in Egypt's presidential election puts Islamists in control an office that was once the exclusive province of the military, but asks whether Sunday's Tahrir Square celebration was premature.

Steven A. Cook says that regardless of whether the June 17 decree by Egypt's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces was in fact a military coup, precedent in Turkey in Algeria shows that officers' interests are safeguarded, and society as a whole will pay.