Introduction

Relations between Turkey and the Western world can be expected to alter significantly over the next decade as Turkey consolidates its achievement in building an industrialized and urban society. Turkey is the first Middle Eastern and Islamic country to achieve genuine industrialization within the framework of the nation-state. Since 1952 Turkey has played a full part in most Western and European international institutions, from NATO to the OECD to the Council of Europe. Western diplomats in Ankara would no doubt argue that these are reflections of important differences between Turkish and Western societies. The Turkish media frequently publish comparative statistics illustrating the country’s relative backwardness in European terms. Western images of Turkey tend to be static and sometimes anachronistic.