The end of the Cold War seemed to portend a decline in Turkey's strategic importance to the West; however, the political changes in the world since 1989 have also loosened the constraints within which Turkey can act. As a result, Ankara's foreign policy has been redirected from its strictly western orientation to one in which the countries of the Middle East have become potentially more significant. The changing relationship between Turkey--uniquely positioned in both the West and the East--and its neighbors in the Middle East was examined at a United States Institute of Peace conference entitled "A Reluctant Neighbor: Analyzing Turkey's Role in the Middle East," held on June 1–2, 1994. This report provides a summary of the conference discussions.

Patricia Carley is a program officer at the United States Institute of Peace. She co-organized the Institute conference "A Reluctant Neighbor: Analyzing Turkey's Role in the Middle East." At the Institute, she works primarily on issues involving the former Soviet Union and southern tier countries, and she has co-convened an Institute study group examining Russian-Ukrainian relations.