Two major events placed Turkey under special scrutiny this week. The first was Pope Benedict's visit to Ankara only a couple of months after the pontiff's controversial Regensburg speech, which enraged Muslim communities worldwide. The second was the European Commission's decision to "freeze" negotiations on Turkey's accession to the European Union. The move was justified by the European Commission on the basis of Ankara's refusal to open its ports and airports to Cyprus vessels and airliners.

On June 29, 2006, the U.S. Department of State's International Information Programs in Washington D.C., the Public Affairs Office at the U.S. Embassy in Israel, and the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center jointly held an international videoconference seminar focusing on the state of Turkish domestic politics and foreign policy, especially Turkey-Israel and U.S.-Turkey relations. Brief biographies of the participants can be found at the end of the article. This seminar is part of the GLORIA Center's Experts Forum series.

Iran’s nuclear program presents one more issue on which Washington sees Middle East developments in a different light than does the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government in Turkey.