Whereas Turkey could appear too Oriental and too religious in Brussels or Paris, when viewed from Cairo or Tunis, it looked like an ideal Muslim bridge to the democratic West and economically dynamic Asia. Moreover, Turkey could play some powerful cards, owing to its “good neighbor” policy with two partners and rivals, Iran and Syria, as well as its support for the short-lived presidency of Mohamed Morsi in Egypt.
尽管土耳其人对布鲁塞尔和巴黎来说太东方、太带宗教色彩，但从开罗和突尼斯城的角度看，土耳其堪称理想的通往民主的西方和经济活力四射的亚洲的穆斯林桥梁。此外，土耳其堪称胜负手，因为它对两大伙伴和对手——伊朗和叙利亚采取“睦邻”政策，并支持执政生涯短暂的埃及总统穆尔西。