For the last 43 years, this perspective has been largely defined by Turkey’s interest in joining the European Union and by the EU’s promise of accession. But at the very moment when even slightest glance at the crisis-ridden region on Europe’s eastern flank – Iran, Iraq, Syria, the Middle East conflict, Central Asia and the Southern Caucasus, Islamic terrorism, emigration, and threats to Europe’s energy supplies – should make clear Turkey’s paramount importance to European security, Europe is reveling in its disinterest in the state of European-Turkish relations.