Turkey a 'political war zone' on eve of elections
Turkey's leaders look to Syria as a distraction from the latest domestic political crisis; the US Congress considers new sanctions on Hezbollah; Al-Monitor expands coverage of Russia and the Middle East.
Turkey 'unhinged'
Turkey’s municipal elections campaign became consumed by the political crisis which swept the country and social media this week.
On March 27, an audio tape was posted on YouTube appearing to capture a conversation among four of Turkey’s top national security officials, including Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and intelligence chief Hakan Fidan, discussing orchestrating an attack on the Tomb of Suleiman Shah, the grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire, which is just over the border in Syria but which Turkey considers its territory, as a pretext for a military action in Syria.
The leak led the government to deny Internet users access to YouTube just one day after a Turkish court overturned an earlier government ban on Twitter.
