Strange Goings On in Turkey

Since the deadly Israeli maritime raid pirate attack on the Gaza flotilla, and the resultant Turkish backlash (characterized by harsh rhetoric, a recall of the Turkish ambassador from Tel Aviv and a complete re-evaluation by Turkey of ties with Israel), Turkey has been rocked by a series of bizarre events.  These include the murder of an Armenian lawyer (who was representing the estate of a murdered Armenian journalist), the brutal slaying of the Roman Catholic church's top clergyman in the country (on the eve of his departure to Cyprus where the Pope is visiting) and a rocket attack on a naval base by Kurdish elements.

All of the above occurred within a week of the deadly flotilla attack and speculation (and conspiracy theories) is rampant over the nature of these attacks and the possibility that they could be linked to efforts to destabilize the country given its recent regional initiatives. Turkey has been aggressively building its credentials as a regional interlocutor and center of influence.  In addition to its heavy involvement in the Gaza Freedom Flotilla (much of the flotilla departed for Gaza from Turkish-occupied Cyprus, with crew and passengers being largely Turkish and with all deaths being Turkish), Turkey - along with Brazil - spearheaded a last-ditch effort at UNSC sanctions against Iran by brokering an 11th hour agreement to host an exchange of nuclear material for that country on its soil.  The country has also been active on Syrian-Israeli peace talks, as well as other fronts (Afghanistan-Pakistan, the Balkans, etc...).