The local, regional, and international developments continuously keep alive the need for analysis and understanding of Turkey. Particularly in a geopolitical environment like that of the Eastern Mediterranean, where the open issues and tensions with Turkey have an existential character.

This need seems to be growing even more in a context where the international system is undergoing rapid and radical changes, simultaneously producing more intense and violent events. Turkey has emerged as an important but extremely controversial actor within this regional and international framework.

For some, it remains a country that is difficult to decode. However, in this book, the authors seek to demonstrate not that Turkey cannot be decoded, but that it represents a unique case of a country and, therefore, its analysis does not lend itself to simplistic approaches.

The main working hypothesis of the book is that the Turkey of the AKP aspires to a new international role that will be stronger, more influential, more autonomous, and competitive with the West-centric International Liberal Order. Gradually, Turkey does not fully identify with either of the two poles of confrontation – that is, the West and Asia/Eurasia.

This dynamic, combined with the pursuit of its own goals, positions it as a potential "Third Pole" (TP) in the emerging international order. The concept of the TP used by the authors, on the one hand, reflects the vision of today's Turkish elites for their country's identity and international position. On the other hand, it captures Ankara's strategic ambitions on an international level.

The analysis is conducted with the help of a Neoclassical Realist theoretical framework that takes into account the international system, ideology, and political economy, as well as through case studies of the Ukrainian, Syrian, and Greek-Turkish Relations.