ABSTRACT
Historically, Turkey has been at the crossroads between East and West in this region as the guardian of the strategic Dardanelles against Russian hegemonic encroachments. Turkey was the first independent power in the Middle East to embrace Westernization as the vehicle for modernization and economic and political development. In 1980s the role of Turkey in the Middle East, in Mediterranean Europe, and particularly within the Atlantic Alliance, invites reexamination, as NATO attempts to relate to the foreboding revolutionary and international changes in the Persian Gulf. The factors that have generated the national identity crisis are to be found in the generally chastizing US and West European responses to Turkish actions in regard to the various Cyprus crises, particularly the 1974 conflict that led to the invasion of the island republic by the Turkish armed forces. Turkey's Middle East policy also illustrates the search for a more independent foreign policy and the increased awareness of the Muslim heritage.
