What characterizes Turks today is not so much pride and hope in their country s expanding influence as fear of its disintegration. The Kurdish problem preoccupies Turks, as does their growing sense that they are losing control of two essential issues the Syrian and Iranian crises.

In the 20th century the population of Antalya increased as Turks from the Caucasus and the Balkans moved into Anatolia.

After the split of the Roman Empire, the area became part of what is now called the Byzantine Empire until conquered by the Ottoman Turks in the 14th century.

Popular among his subjects, he was an able military commander, most famous for the victory over the Turks in the 1683 Battle of Vienna.

The first force had some success, in consequence of which the Turks agreed to a convention on 24 January 1800, by virtue of which the French were to quit Egypt.

In 1914, at the beginning of World War I, his family became refugees and fled to Amude near the city of Qamishli in present day north eastern Syria.

In reality, nearly three years after the beginning of the Arab Spring, Turkey is more in search of itself than it is of Europe, even if it needs Europe more than Turks are willing to admit.

And that means that Turks may need Europe more than they are willing to admit, even to themselves. But is Europe today any more ready and willing than it was yesterday to engage in serious talks with Turkey?

In reality, nearly three years after the beginning of the Arab Spring, Turkey is more in search of itself than it is of Europe, even if it needs Europe more than Turks are willing to admit. What is Turkey today, what are its values, and what is its destiny in a highly fluid regional environment?