The G-20 economic summit in London was the most important meeting on President Barack Obama’s European itinerary. His most important national visit took him to Turkey. Turkey bestrides continents. It connects Europe and Asia, East and West. It shares borders with the Balkans, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and some of the more restive republics of the former Soviet Union. It has seen its share of war, and initiated its share, too. Early Christianity flourished in the lands that became Turkey. Today, the country is almost exclusively Muslim. Tourists staying in posh resorts hear the muezzin’s call. Yet while so-called religious parties have made electoral gains, Turkey remains secular. Istanbul is closer in ambience to Paris than to Kandahar. Turkey maintains ties with Israel—ties that have come under stress but ties nevertheless.

We have reached the season of the year when we must peer deep into our souls and ask ourselves a question of great magnitude: What do we do with the leftover turkey? My answer is simple: Eat it. I’m perfectly happy to graze at the open refrigerator door and pick off whatever I need. Or better yet, make one of those Thanksgiving dinner sandwiches that Dagwood might concoct if using Thanksgiving ingredients.

Virginia Tech, whose teams are known as the Fighting Gobblers, is leading a consortium trying to determine the genetic sequence of that Thanksgiving Day staple—the domestic turkey.

Turkish warplanes bombed suspected Kurdish rebel positions in northern Iraq and southeast Turkey early yesterday in retaliation for an attack that killed 17 soldiers, the Turkish military said. Turkey’s prime minister indicated that the country could be preparing to launch new cross-border ground operations. The military said fighter jets attacked 21 rebel positions in Iraq’s Avasin Baysan region and Turkish mountains bordering Iraq in the fourth round of airstrikes since Friday’s attack.