LONDON -- The Turkish "problem" is looming ever larger in European affairs.
It is not just a question of whether Turkey joins the European Union, as it longs to do, or is kept out by the Western Europeans. That has been a long-standing dilemma that remains unresolved.
The bigger problem is that Turkey is becoming an ever-more vital piece in the international jigsaw, even more vital than during the Cold War when it guarded the southeastern flank of NATO against the Soviet Union.