Balance of Power

Turkey Steers a Path Through Mideast Tensions

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has cast himself as a mediator.
An anti-US billboard in Tehran’s Valiasr Square, Iran, on Feb. 4.Photographer: AFP/Getty Images

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More than a century after a US naval strategist first coined the term “Middle East,” the region remains a high-stakes arena for great-power rivalry.