ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to the possible reasons behind the Western support for the Turkish Model and how this support has declined. It provides a major emphasis on the period 1991–1993 because it was in this period that Turkish model was proposed and the term 'Turkish Model' occupied newspapers in Turkey and in the West. The rise of Iran and Turkey as the new players in the Caucasus and Central Asia because of their historical, geographical and cultural closeness to the region seemed inevitable. One of the most outstanding characteristics of the Turkish Model was its performance in economic transformation, in other words its success in transforming its centrally controlled economy to a liberal economic system. The closest affinity of their origins and cultures would be either with Turkey or with Iran. Iran represented an anti-Western and Islamic regime; on the other hand, Turkey represented democracy, secularism, the free market economy and more importantly closeness to the West.
