Turkey is not one of the great powers of the Twentieth century. Her geopolitical location, however, has enabled her to play a potentially more influential role in world politics than otherwise would have been possible. She holds the key not only to the Turkish Straits but lies along the roads from the Balkans to the Middle East and from the Caucasus to the Persian Gulf. She is a member of the biggest surviving military bloc and most European organisations, as well as a candidate for European Union membership. Her political involvement and exposed position assign her an importance hardly matched by any other medium power. Accordingly, the correct evaluation of this country's policies is of crucial importance. Furthermore, as one of the small number of nonwestern societies successfully struggling to modernise both country and people, together with the aim of evolving a workable parliamentary democracy, she has long seemed to offer lessons and insights into an important political process.
Reference: Aydın, Mustafa (2004) Turkish Foreign Policy: Framework and Analysis, Ankara: Stratejik Araştırmalar Merkezi.