The Eastern Mediterranean in Turkey's Foreign Policy: From the Defensive to the Assertive (original) (raw)

Geopolitical Implications of the Arab Upheavals in the Mediterranean: Turkey's case

Revisions of Turkish geopolitics in the light of the latest Arab upheavals still involving some Arab states, have changed the geopolitical Middle East contest, forcing the main actors to adapt quickly to the change and, sometimes, to the revisions of their own leadership in foreign politics. Among these countries, Turkey aspires to a leading role. As a matter of fact, the AKP, an Islamic moderate party whose geopolitical thought is well expressed by “Strategic Depth” doctrine of Ahmet Davutoğlu (Minister of Foreign Affairs) is aiming to make Turkey a main actor relaunching the historical Turkish/Ottoman role, as the point of junction between East and West. During the last ten years, a political central position has added to geopolitical one and it has been characterized by evolving domestic situation where the emerging AKP, with leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has promoted a new model in which tradition and Islam meet modernity and global market, obtaining excellent result strengthened by an unrestrainable economic growth. Upheavals in Spring 2011 can be considered both a turning point for the whole Middle East and, meanwhile, a chance by Erdoğan to feed dominating ambitious regarding it. In the same time the imagine of Turkey as a winning model for other countries and people, is getting stronger and stronger. Upheavals have also marked the emerging of new regional competitors and this could threaten short term the Turkish geopolitical plans themselves. The “Strategic Depth” theorized by Davutoğlu had inevitably to undergo some of the changes in regional alterations. Contests, especially those ones connected with the directive of “no problems with neighbors” are menaced by Syrian crisis. Understanding the developing of Turkish foreign politics directives, can help to explain present day critical situations and to foresee future developments of Middle East arrangement.

Rivalry in the New Geopolitics of the Eastern Mediterranean: Turkey’s Geostrategic Vision and Its Effect on Foreign (Energy) and Security Policies

Anemon Muş Alparslan Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi

The Eastern Mediterranean (EM) has endured significant geopolitical alterations in the last decade through the new oil and natural discoveries. The energy issues in the region present geostrategic inferences for the states to assure their economic, politic and geostrategic interests and also accelerate the rivalry among the surrounding states and external powers. In addition, new oil and natural sources discoveries have triggered and increased regional insecurity and instability. Turkey with her geopolitical position is one part of the rivalry in the context of the new geopolitics of the Mediterranean. As a rival, Turkey has struggled for and maintaining its economic and geopolitical interests. Moreover, Turkey aims to be a regional energy hub in the region as a transit route and by its growing gas market. Turkey has distinctly presented a pretentious foreign policy approach with multilateral diplomacy and military deterrence in the regional political debates. The article analyses Turkey's geostrategic vision and its effects on Turkey's Turkey's foreign and energy security policies.

The Depth of Turkish geopolitics in the AKP's foreign policy: From Europe to an extended neighbourhood

2015

This book is conceived as a spin-off of activities and research developed within the PhD program in Cooperation for Peace and Development at the University for Foreigners of Perugia. The academic program has given rise to a wide range of opportunities for several researchers, international experts and scholars. The two most important events were a conference entitled “Wars at the borders of the Europe: uncertainties and perspective in the Mediterranean”, organized in October 2013, and a special session devoted to Turkish foreign policy during the Annual Conference of the Italian Society of Political Science, held in September 2014. A whole section looking at Turkey’s foreign policy was the main focus of the conference. The idea to gain a clearer picture of the ‘geopolitical depth’ of Turkish foreign policy emerged during these two con- ferences, and inspired the composition of this book. After decades of neutralist foreign policy, and retracing the ancient history of the Ottoman Empire, over the past years Ankara, under the rule of the AK Party, has started an assertive and emphatic approach modifying its internatio- nal agenda. Turkish action in its extended neighborhood followed the architecture of the ‘strategic depth’ doctrine outlined by the current prime minister Davutoğlu. This doctrine was based on the so called ‘zero-problems with neighbors’ approach and was strengthened by the AK Party’s dominance in the Turkish political system. But the idea of ‘geopolitical depth’ finds its roots in a more complex process of re-imagination of the state as a central power in the age of globalization. This book aims to illustrate the types of ap- proaches Turkey has followed to expand its action in the last decades. The five chapters have been organized following a non-standard geopolitical analysis, and considering some relevant case-studies. The first chapter, written by Bahri Yılmaz, constitutes a general introduction to a still challenging and debated argument, i.e. the comprehension of Turkish foreign policy in the Middle East, or Turkey as a model to be followed by the others countries, investigating Turkish-EU relations. The second chapter, edited by Emidio Diodato, addresses the decisive question about the ‘zero-problems with neighbors’ doctrine, i.e. whether it was a success or a failure. The following chapters, written by Alessia Chiriatti, Salih Doğan and Federico Donelli, contain analysis of specific case-studies, concerning with the bilateral or trilateral relations between Turkey, Georgia, Syria, Afghanistan, and Somalia. These case-studies have been debated throughout a regional perspective, focusing also on the role of Turkish non-state actors. Moreover, the states chosen to illustrate the Turkish action in the extended neighborhood have some characteristics in common, even if they are totally different among them. These countries have been faced with dramatic crises and wars that have destabilized their internal and regional equilibrium, thus requiring an external support that Turkey has tried to give, with obvious consequences on its geopolitical engagement.

Neo-Ottoman expansionism beyond the borders of modern Turkey: Erdoğan's foreign policy ambitions in Syria and the Mediterranean

2021

The article looks at two aspects of the activist Turkish foreign policy and its attempts at reconfiguring Mediterranean politics. The first is the incursion into north-eastern Syria in October 2019 with the ambitions of prohibiting a permanent existence of an autonomous Kurdish entity in Syria and, in a wider perspective, seeking to strengthen the Turkish role in determining the future of Syria. The second aspect is the Turkish intervention in 2020 in the Libyan civil war, and – in connection with that – the agreement on maritime boundaries between Turkey and the UN-initiated government in Tripoli with Fayez al-Sarraj in charge of the Government of National Accord. A main interest related to this is for Turkey to gain access to offshore resources in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, thereby strengthening Turkey's position in the regional competition over dominance in the Mediterranean Keywords: Turkey, neo-Ottomanism, in-between spaces, Syria, the Mediterranean

Turkey's Policy in the Black Sea Region: Oscillating between Pragmatism and Opportunism

Turkey and Transatlantic Relations, 2017

Turkey's place in the NATO alliance and Western institutions dates back to the years following World War II, when in 1947 U.S. President Harry S. Truman announced that the United States would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces. Truman's doctrine informed U.S. Marshall Plan support for Turkey and facilitated Turkey's membership in most Western institutions formed over the course of the Cold War, including the OECD, NATO, the Council of Europe and the OSCE. Turkey also developed its relations with the member states of the European Union, building a Custom Union and launching its candidacy for membership. Today, many foundational elements linking Turkey to its Western allies and partners are being questioned. Dynamics across Turkey's neighborhood-including the rise and fall of the co-called Islamic State, waves of migrants, or Russia's efforts to project power and influence-are generating new uncertainties and tensions with regard to Turkey's role, its relationships and allegiances. With these challenges in mind, we asked a number of eminent authors to address a broad set of issues related to Turkey and its role in transatlantic relations, ranging from historical and institutional relations to Turkey's multi-vector foreign policy and its impact on contemporary relations across the North Atlantic. The result is this comprehensive volume. I am particularly pleased that our authors have not limited themselves to description, but are also bold enough to move to prescription. Many propose creative ways to rebuild and strengthen the alliance between Turkey and its transatlantic partners. At this time of fundamental and often disorienting changes, their ideas add value to our debates.

Turkey and the Arab Spring. Implications for Turkish Foreign Policy from a Transatlantic Perspective

GMF Mediterranean Papers, No. 13 (October 2011), 2011

The Arab Spring reveals a number of contradictions and constraints as well as opportunities for Turkish foreign policy, all of which are of key relevance both to Turkey and to its transatlantic partners. The inconsistencies in and weaknesses of Turkish foreign policy, particularly when mapped against the stances of the European Union (EU) and the United States, may be viewed as by-products of a more proactive Turkish role in its southern neighborhood. The Arab Spring has revealed the inherent tension between the normative and realpolitik dimensions of Turkish foreign policy. The Arab Spring has also revealed that Turkey’s “zero problems with neighbors” has rested largely on improved ties with specific leaders. Finally, the Arab Spring has revealed that Turkey’s activism in the Middle East, and in particular its prolific mediation activities, have been as much contextual as actor driven. In the medium and long-term, a changing Middle East may present Turkey with important opportunities, to be seized alongside its transatlantic partners. Rather than a black-and-white model of a pro-Western Muslim secular democracy, Turkey may offer a number of different models and ideas to inspire change in its southern neighborhood. Some of these ideas may complement and enrich, others may contrast with, the Western concept of the Turkish model. Different countries (and different actors within them) may find different aspects of Turkey of interest, as noted by Hassan Nafaa. In particular, Ömer Taşpınar reflects on how two seemingly contrasting aspects of the Turkish model might strike chords across democratizing or reforming countries in the southern Mediterranean: Turkish political Islam and the Turkish military. On one hand, southern Mediterranean countries may turn to the trajectory of Turkish political Islam and, specifically, the evolution of the Justice and Development Party. On the other hand, these countries may take an interest in the development of the Turkish military and civil-military relations in Turkey. Yet as pointed out by Barkey, Taşpınar, and Nafaa, Turkey inevitably has its peculiarities that defy any clear-cut emulation. Equally relevant, as Henri Barkey notes, rather than the Turkish model as such, what may be of interest is studying Turkey’s evolution, learning from its steps forward, and, perhaps, even more critically, from its mistakes.