Turkey's delicate situation in new era of the Middle East

A series of very harsh sanctions imposed on June 5 by prominent Arab and Gulf countries under the coordination of Saudi Arabia against neighboring Qatar is no doubt marking the beginning of a new era in the already fragile and unstable Middle East. 

It's still an unfolding development and it's too early to be able to make a forecast on its political, economic and even social consequences on the region and the rest of the world. Qatar has no doubt been one of the fastest growing countries in the last two decades thanks to its enormous hydrocarbon reserves, but questions linger on how long this tiny oil and gas-rich country can survive under such heavy sanctions. 

As the confusion over the Gulf crisis was still very fresh, the Middle East was shaken by a twin terror attack staged by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on June 7, this time in Iran, which has remained immune to jihadist terror attacks until that day. Iran accused Saudi Arabia of the terrorist attack and vowed revenge.
 
The Middle East - despite its vast oil and natural gas richness - has always been in a shaky, fragile and unstable situation with unending fights and conflicts between sparring and ambitious Arab powers that made foreign military interventions inevitable.
 
Until quite recently, Turkey could succeed in staying neutral and therefore unaffected from decades-old turmoil of its region. In a sense, Turkey's return to the Middle East could be possible after it had rejected to partner with the United States in a second war in Iraq that toppled the Saddam Hussein regime. 

Turkey's traditional policy of not meddling in internal affairs of Arab countries has long helped it protect its integrity and international positioning during the very hard...