The recent NATO Summit held in Wales on September 4-5 once again confirmed Turkey's critical place in the Western security and political alliance. Though the "Turkey is drifting away from the West" rhetoric has lost much of its force and relevance today, the NATO Summit is a testimony to Turkey's multi-dimensional relationship with Europe and the U.S.Three formal and institutional structures underpin Turkey's long-standing relationship with the West. The first is NATO, of which Turkey has been a member since 1952, only three years after the Alliance was established in the wake of the devastating World War II. The second is Turkey's EU membership process, which goes back to 1959. The third is Turkey's bi-lateral relations with European countries and the U.S. In addition, Turkey is a member of various European institutions including the Council of Europe (COE) as a founding member since 1949 and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) since 1973.In NATO, Turkey has played a key role in protecting the southern flank of the Alliance. She herself benefitted from the NATO security umbrella during the Cold War. But her place in the Alliance goes way beyond securing the southern borders. Turkey has been part and parcel of all the key decisions and operations of the Alliance. She has supported such initiatives as NATO-EU cooperation and NATO-Russia Council as well as NATO enlargement to include Macedonia and Bosnia Herzegovina. Finally, Turkey supports the Mediterranean Dialogue and broader relations with Gulf countries through the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative.The second institutional leg of Turkey's relationship with the West is the EU membership process. Turkey signed the customs union agreement with the EU back in 1995 and since then has applied many of the Acqui Communitare. But she has no say over the EU legislation that affects Turkey and her economic transactions with the EU. Thanks to the intensive efforts of the AK Party governments, the full membership process began in 2005 but has moved much slower than expected over the last eight years. Even though Turkey has done better than many EU economies and introduced thousands of pieces of legislation to meet the Copenhagen criteria, full membership has turned into an elusive goal. True, Turkey has many supporters in the EU such as the U.K., Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Finland and Hungary and others. But the two heavyweights of the EU, France and Germany, as well as the Greek Cypriots, have blocked many chapters and brought the process to an unnecessary standstill. Despite the anti-Turkey camp, Turkey is committed to joining the EU as a full member.Finally, Turkey has strong bilateral relations with the U.S. and European countries. Turkey's strategic partnership with the U.S. goes back to the last century. Despite differences over such issues as the Middle East peace process and the fight against the PKK in the 1990s, Turkish-U.S. relations have been close and strong. President Barack Obama called it a "model partnership"; he and President Erdogan reiterated its importance at the NATO summit in Wales.In the case of Europe, Turkey has extensive political, economic and cultural relations with most European countries. Turkey conducts about half of its trade with Eurozone countries. About five million Turks live in half a dozen European countries. Millions of European tourists visit Turkey every year and thousands are now buying property in Turkey.All of this underlines the strong relationship Turkey has developed with the West over the last few decades. This, however, does not prevent Turkey from engaging other strategic players and extending its foreign policy to other regions of the world. Over the last 10 years, Turkey has developed a 360-degree foreign policy perspective and increased its diplomatic and economic presence in Africa, Asia and Latin America.This is only natural for a pivotal country like Turkey whose territory and geo-political interests straddle several continents. This in no way diminishes the strategic relationship that Turkey has with Europe and the U.S. In fact, it is in the interest of Turkey as well as her allies that Turkey develops partnerships with key players in the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Latin America. This is not a zero-sum game and Turkey sees no essential contradiction between the two strategic goals.No one criticizes France for having a special relationship with African countries and the Levant. No one faults the U.S. for engaging the Middle East and North Africa. No one blames the U.K. for keeping close relations with India, Pakistan and other Commonwealth countries. None of these is seen as weakening the NATO or Western alliance. To the contrary, such engagements can be an asset for all allies.The same principle applies to Turkey's multifaceted engagements. The recent developments in Afghanistan, Ukraine, Iraq, Syria and Libya, which were the main topics of the NATO summit, only confirm the value of such a comprehensive and integrated foreign policy outlook as the one Turkey has developed.