"FEATURE: From Turkey's dreams of empire to the energy Great Game
By Chris Wade, dpa
Ankara (dpa) - In the heady days following the break-up of the Soviet Union, Turkish nationalists dreamt of creating a pan-Turkic empire of the newly independent Caucasus states - led, naturally, by Turkey.
On a visit to a series of Muslim countries in 1992, President Suleyman Demirel made it clear what he was hoping for, saying "Nobody can now deny that there is a Turkic world stretching from the shores of the Adriatic to the walls of China."
Turkish nationalists jumped on the bandwagon, hoping to build an empire based upon folklore that the Turkish race was born of a wolf somewhere in Central Asia."
More:EUX.TV - FEATURE: From Turkey's dreams of empire to the energy Great Game
By Chris Wade, dpa
