Turkey's relations with its neighbors have been steadily improving. Tense relations of the mid-nineties have been in stark contrast to good neighborly relations that Ankara has succeeded to cultivate with its contagious as well as second belt neighbors for the last fıve years. In order to grasp the reasons that paved the way for such an overall improvement, one has to look at two aspects of Turkish foreign policy: success in putting down the Kurdish insurgence and increasing prospects for accession to the EU. The dynamics of Turkish politics have transformed since Turkey received a status of candidacy in December 1999. Globalization, EU integration process and customs union brought about its ovvn grinding effects över the prominence of traditional statecraft in Turkey. Vast spectrum of civic organizations is increasingly involved in activities formerly pertinent to the security sector on a greater scale and thus becomes the agents of de-securitization process in Turkey. Their impact is becoming visible in debates as to how the national interest will be defined.