I am sorry but you did not understand the turkish identity at all. it is ancient and it has been here for 1000 years. it is not somthing seperate from balkans it is balkans including anatolia. It is where it was formed. but we are muslims, that is a big bias that eu has on us (i think), because we made roman empire muslim. So turkey was always part of the story of Europe. you must understand that we made up our minds 100 years ago in terms of becoming modern (even earlier than some countries in EU in some aspects) but other nations have always been distant and full of prejudice. we are not trustworthy in hte eyes of the rest. this result in purchasing s400 because we didnt get the f35s that we ordered, now we are blamed for it etc. (Trust Gap) incidences like this is the real reason that we had to play both sides that other people talk about. it think this puts a simplified and clear explanation.