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tensions with Syria—to which later those with Iraq were added. The ArabWorld remained important to Turkey, primarily as a source of petroleum,but decidedly overshadowed in Ankara's foreign policy perspective byother regions—Europe and the United States.Only in the 1990s did there begin to emerge signs that the futuremight see Turkey inclined to pursue a more energetic approach to theArab World. As Mustafa Aydin has shown, the Gulf War marked somethingof a minör watershed in high policymaking circles'. Prime MinisterTurgut Ozal's enthusiasm for a reinvigorated Turkish presence in the affairsof the Middle East was a departure from Ankara's earlier determinationto retain its distance from the tumultuous world of inter-Arab politics.This tendency vvas opposed by many vvithin the forign policyestablishment, vvith the result that Ozal found himself largely constrainedby the more traditional outlook. Nonetheless, the late prime minister'searly eagerness to enhance Turkey's regional role may yet turn out tohave been a harbinger of things to come.In the late 1990s, another indication of Turkey's moving tovvard apossibly greater role as a regional actor came in the form of Ankara'sstepped up military relationship vvith Israel. This development vvas vvidelyseen in the Arab World as going beyond simple joint exercises; being,in fact, a scarcely veiled strategic alignment. Turkish efforts to persuadeArab critics that Turkey's military ties to Israel vvere not aimed againstany other regional actor have been resoundingly unsuccessful. With theArab-Israeli peace process steadily becoming more tattered, feeling in theArab World vvas strongly opposed to the potential emergence of a Turkish-Israeliaxis that might dominate the region's foreseeable future.Finally, the 1998 dashing of Turkey's hopes for an invitation to jointhe European Union raised serious questions about the country's foreignpolicy goals. To the grovving and politically signifıcant Islamist trends inTurkey, the EU's stance not only stood as proof that Turkey should neverhave given greater priority to ties vvith the West than to those vvith the IslamicWorld but also that the time had novv defınitely come for Turkey togive far greater attention to Middle East affairs.Whatever the merits of this vievv, factors not directly related to internalTurkish politics seem to support the prospect that Turkish policymakersvvill indeed have to become more involved vvith the Middle East, andparticularly in the Arab World, in the coming years. Chief among theseare the Arab World's general political instability and the nearly insatiabledesire of Arab regimes to acquire cutting-edge vveaponry; the burgeoning1. Mustafa Aydin, Turkish Foreign Policy During the Gulf War of 1990-1991, CairoPapers in Social Science, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Spring, 1998), (The American Universityin Cairo Press, 1998).591