Turkey's troubled neighbourhood, incorporating the Middle East, the former Soviet south, the Balkans, and a fraught relationship with Greece, meant that Turkey's security perspectives remained relatively unaltered as a consequence of the end of the Cold War. This was accentuated both by the domestic political role traditionally played by the Turkish General Staff, and the intensification of the Kurdish problem. In fact, Turkey embarked on an expensive programme to modernise its large, infantry-heavy armed forces. However, the requirements of EU accession, economic problems, and the election of the Justice and Development Party, have served both to reduce spending on defence and prompt a reform of Turkey's civil-military relationships. Yet continued internal and external security threats, and domestic political uncertainties, could undermine the defence transformation process in Turkey.