“Precious isolation” is how a key foreign policy adviser to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan characterized Turkey's regional status some months ago. This was a highly unconvincing attempt to put a positive spin on Turkey’s increasing loneliness in the Middle East due to policies that turned out to be out of tune with the political realities of the region.

It is no longer a secret, however, that Ankara has been forced to “reset” its regional priorities after this isolation proved to be not so “precious” in the end. The Erdogan government is trying to return to the table now as an active regional player. This new drive also comes at a time when international efforts — including major initiatives by the United States — aimed at overcoming regional crises are gathering speed.

Developments in the region have also brought up the need for Ankara to recalibrate its ties with Washington. Relations have seen some turbulence since early summer due to a number of issues, including differences over Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Turkish-Israeli ties. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was in Washington earlier this week doing just that.

He touched all the right chords during his meetings with US Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and National Security Adviser Susan Rice, as well as his contacts with US opinion-makers. As Sedat Ergin — the veteran commentator for Hurriyet who also served as the paper's Washington representative in the 1990s — put it in his Nov. 22 column, Davutoglu’s message was “the warmest and strongest to date expressing the importance attached to the United States by Ankara.”