ترکیه

Their emerging confluence of interests will only exacerbate the internal problems caused by factionalism and failed governance in Iraqi Kurdistan.

The circumstances of the Russian-sponsored peace conference raise several concerns, but failure to participate could signal acquiescence to Moscow's plans in Syria and further U.S. withdrawal from the Middle East.

The Trump administration should revamp policy toward Turkey to emphasize a transactional approach to critical bilateral issues, counsels two leading experts on U.S.-Turkish relations. In the first in a series of Washington Institute presidential transition papers addressing key policy challenges across the Middle East, former U.S. ambassador to Ankara James

Helping Erdogan take the city could greatly decrease the civilian death toll and preserve U.S.-Turkish cooperation in Syria, but Washington will still need to decide what to do with the Kurds, its other key ally against the Islamic State.

The perpetrators of the ongoing string of major terrorist attacks are obvious, but Turkey's bitterly divided pro- and anti-Erdogan camps refuse to focus on the foreign and domestic policy factors underlying the violence.

Deeply polarized and facing a growing roster of external and internal enemies, Turkey seems headed for rough waters in 2017, and its institutions may not be strong enough anymore to correct course.

Far from sparking World War III, the Ankara assassination will probably spur a Russian escalation against 'terrorists' in Syria and exacerbate internal divisions in Turkey.

Pro-Iranian brigades are looking to settle old grudges in a notorious town near the Islamic State's Iraqi stronghold.

If a case can be made for a country too big to fail in the Middle East, it would be Turkey.