Turkey's multilateral and independent policies vis-à-vis its neighbors represent the key component to a new strategy for dealing with its own internal and external regional change. The deepening of relations through greater economic cooperation, regional assistance, and promotion of democratic institutions throughout the Middle East , Black Sea, and in the Turkic republics of Central Asia demonstrate a new found confidence in Turkey 's role in the world as a versatile multiregional actor. No longer confined to being simply a Western geostrategic "bridge" or "barrier, "Turkey represents an exemplary model of a Muslim-majority, secular, and democraticnation within this new geopolitical environment. Please click here to read the text in full.