This article tries to shed light on the root causes of Turkey’s activism inthe Middle East during the rule of the Justice and Development Party (JDP). Byfocusing on Turkey’s relations with Syria, Iraq, Iran and Israel along with the USforeign policy towards the region, it argues that the transformation of the USMiddle East policy is a very important factor that affected Turkey’s Middle Eastpolicy in the JDP era. Besides, it asserts that recent debates regarding “Turkey’ssoft power” in the region remind of “Turkey as a model country” discoursesince both of them conceives Turkey as a facilitator in the articulation of theMiddle East to the global system.