Insight Turkey / issues

Editor's Note | Winter 2021

Tue, 09 Mar 2021 10:43:00 GMT

While the importance of the region certainly is going to increase in the following years as more regional and global actors will be included in the power struggle, it is necessary to analyze and understand the issue from geopolitical, economic and legal standpoints. With that said, we are confident that this issue of Insight Turkey entitled “New Geopolitics in the Eastern Mediterranean” will provide timely studies regarding the Turkish perspective on a complex and increasingly important issue in the global power struggle.

Root Causes of the Eastern Mediterranean Dispute: Approaches of the Main Actors

Tue, 09 Mar 2021 11:13:00 GMT

The Eastern Mediterranean region is said to host five percent of the world’s known natural gas reserves. That stimulates tension when coupled with the aspirations of some states to claim these resources and control their transport to the markets. The claims of Greece and the Greek Administration of Southern Cyprus (GASC), which has always acted as if it were the sole representative of the island, seem to be extreme, given the relevant the rules of international law. In order to achieve its aspirations over Libya, France has recently intervened in regional developments on the side of Greece. Turkey has declared that its continental shelf in the Eastern Mediterranean extends up to 28° E longitude and that the western boundary of the Turkish continental shelf to the west of this longitude shall be drawn through equitable agreements with all concerned states. Turkey has also taken certain preventive measures to protect its rights and interests by making particular references to the relevant rules of international law. The present commentary examines the real motivations behind the acts of all sides and reviews their justifications with reference to international law, with particular reference to Turkey’s actions

What Biden May Bring to the Eastern Mediterranean Region

Tue, 09 Mar 2021 15:51:00 GMT

This paper aims to forecast the route that Joe Biden, will take in his foreign policy toward the Eastern Mediterranean, by trying to analyze the content of his speeches and rhetoric before and shortly after taking office. In this context, America’s relation to Turkey will be pivotal in order to gauge the impact of any change in U.S. course. After four years of Trump’s doctrine of ‘America First’ and his bilateral approach, there are many expectations that the newly elected president will follow a more multilateral approach and will put more importance on international organizations and alliances across the Atlantic. Those expectations are more like wishes, however, when it comes to the Eastern Mediterranean, which is on the verge of a critical standoff between Turkey and its neighbors. There are some speculations that Biden will take a more affirmative stance against Turkey. Indeed, Biden has stressed the value of cooperating with allies to achieve foreign policy objectives. But despite the harsh language, Biden used during his election campaign to describe Turkey’s leadership, it is still unclear whether Biden will place the U.S. on a collision course with Turkey.

Trump’s Coup and Insurrection: Biden’s Challenge and Opportunity

Tue, 09 Mar 2021 15:56:00 GMT

President Donald Trump’s attempted coup and insurrection’s political effects are set to continue in the future because the enabling conditions have deep historical roots, its support reaches far into the U.S. state, broad sections of the Republican Party and electorate, military, and law enforcement. It will have national and global implications. There is a feeling that the imperial homeland is on the brink of a descent into the abyss. Although the U.S. political system appears to have squeaked through a major stress test, the political reverberations of Trumpism will remain for some time to come. There is no ‘return to normalcy’ the country craves for, without reforms to a system that advantages the politics of extremism in the Republican Party. President Biden has the challenge and opportunity to extirpate Trumpism and white supremacy from the U.S. body politic –but does he have the political will?

The Al-Ula GCC Summit: An End to Gulf Rivalry or Just Another Truce?

Tue, 09 Mar 2021 16:00:00 GMT

Three-and-a-half-years into the crisis that struck the heart of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the 41st Gulf Summit, held on January 5, 2021, in the Saudi city of al-Ula, brought the blockade of Qatar to an end. The summits final communiqué stated that the GCC member states will “stand together as one to confront any threat to the security of the block” and prevent any “violation of sovereignty of any member state.”1 According to the Saudi Foreign Minister, Faisal bin Farhan, “points of disagreement with Qatar have been solved.”2 The Saudi minister declined to give more details on the compromises the two sides may have agreed on and the timeframe for their implementation. Lack of enthusiasm in the state-owned media on both sides of the fence suggests, however, that the agreement will merely return the relationship between the parties to the pre-June 5, 2017 position. So far, the two sides blame COVID-19 for ‘social distancing.’ Trade has not been fully resumed and cross-borders movement of goods and peoples remain low. It is assumed that cold peace is likely to prevail until the two sides re-establish mutual trust, which was badly damaged, especially at the level of the heads of states.

A New Alliance Axis in the Eastern Mediterranean Cold War: What the Abraham Accords Mean for Mediterranean Geopolitics and Turkey

Tue, 09 Mar 2021 18:28:00 GMT

The new Cold War has arrived in the Eastern Mediterranean. At the strategic level, Chinese economic and Russian military assertiveness have led the U.S. to think twice about its mistakes, which opened up a power vacuum in this strategic geopolitical realm. Until today, the U.S. has seemed to use three axes of alliances that have emerged as Israeli-based, flexible, and benefit-oriented alignments at the level of regional rivalry. These alignments, especially in the context of the Abraham Accords, are unfortunately expected to reinforce pre-existing divisions in the region unless a radical change occurs. This study examines how and why Washington must embrace the logic of alliance axes to shape the Eastern Mediterranean and explores the projected impact of the U.S.-initiated Abraham Accords on regional geopolitics.

Turkey’s Legal Approach to Maritime Boundary Delimitation in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea

Tue, 09 Mar 2021 18:31:00 GMT

For more than a decade, the states bordering the Eastern Mediterranean Sea have been in disagreement over the delineation of their maritime boundaries. The disagreements concern various parts of the region and create enormous political tension over energy-related activities. Ever since Egypt and the Greek Administration of Southern Cyprus (GASC) signed the very first delimitation agreement of the region, without securing Turkey’s involvement, Turkey has issued many official statements and carried out energy-related activities in the region. Based on the principle that maritime delimitation should be carried out to reach an equitable solution by taking all the relevant circumstances into account, Turkey has developed a comprehensive legal approach as to the maritime delimitation in the Eastern Mediterranean and even submitted a map to the UN to demonstrate Turkey’s claimed continental shelf and Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) areas. The details of this comprehensive approach should be examined, to identify both the claims of Turkey over the maritime borders and the related legal arguments.

Key Challenges Facing the Eastern Mediterranean: The Future of Regional Energy Development

Tue, 09 Mar 2021 22:01:00 GMT

This article provides a critical overview of the key commercial, technical, legal, and political challenges the Eastern Mediterranean region faces in regard to the development of its natural gas resources and proposes possible ways to overcome them. To that aim, it first gives an up-to-date overview of the upstream developments in the region. It then discusses the challenges facing the monetization of the gas discoveries by looking at both the commercial challenges hampering exploration and field development and the technical challenges involved in exporting the gas to the immediate and distant markets. While examining the legal and political challenges related to maritime delimitation and political alignments, it highlights the role of gas. Finally, it offers some possible ways to overcome those challenges.

The Energy Equation in the Eastern Mediterranean

Tue, 09 Mar 2021 23:49:00 GMT

The energy resource potential and discoveries in the Eastern Mediterranean have attracted the attention of the global energy markets for a long time. Since the beginning of the 2000s, exploration, and drilling activities have continued to increase in the region. The discovered hydrocarbon resources are only a small part of the estimated potential, consequently, the actors in the Eastern Mediterranean have been focusing on increasing this quantity. On the other hand, the ongoing discussions related to Exclusive Economic Zones have delayed the seismic surveys, drilling operations, and production activities in some specific areas of the region. Moreover, transferring the discovered resources from the Eastern Mediterranean to the international markets is another issue that has not yet been resolved. Therefore, this study evaluates the general situation in the Eastern Mediterranean in terms of the potential of energy resources, discoveries, and transfer projects. In this context, this paper examines the geo-economic competition over the energy resources in the region.

Deciphering France’s Mediterranean and Foreign Policy against Turkey

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 1:03:00 GMT

France’s Mediterranean policy can be analyzed from a historical perspective and through the actual conjuncture related to its geopolitical and geo-cultural elements, such as the West-East civilization dilemma and colonization background. Although these two elements are complementary to each other, they intersect with the political and economic interests of the Turkish state in the region. France’s policy has become intertwined with its involvement in the Eastern Mediterranean dispute against Turkey as a result of the natural gas discovery in recent years in the region. France’s identification of Turkey as an ‘external enemy’ reflects the former’s political and economic concerns in regard to the Mediterranean gas reserves. Therefore, the envisaged French leadership in the region insists that the EU adopt an exclusionary political approach toward Turkey with the political and diplomatic support of France for Greece and Cyprus. The existing regional problems, however, need to be resolved on the basis of equity, not by ignoring the rights of the parties, but by integrating them. This is necessary for the peaceful resolution of these concerns.

Russia-GCC Economic Relations: When Quality Matters more than Quantity

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 1:18:00 GMT

During the last five years, Russian relations with the GCC have developed on a largely positive trajectory. Even Moscow’s decision to leave the OPEC+ agreement and launch a price war with Saudi Arabia in March 2020 did not threaten the gains made by Russian diplomacy in the region. Following a cooling-off period in 2012-2014 caused by the negative reaction of the GCC States to the Russian support of the Assad regime in Syria, the overall rapprochement continued. When explaining the complex mixture of factors that are driving Moscow’s dialogue with the GCC member states regardless of occasional political turbulence they usually refer to the growing intensity of Moscow’s presence in the region, changing dynamics of the U.S. relations with Russia and the GCC, existing tensions between Middle Eastern countries as well as the transformation of GCC foreign policy vision. Yet, the economic factors usually remain underestimated. Consequently, this article will try to prove the importance of the economic factors for the current development of Russia’s relations with the Gulf States. It will also assess the prospects for continued economic cooperation between GCC capitals and Moscow including an analysis of the ability of the sides to bring these relations to a new qualitative level.

TurkStream as Russia’s Last Step in Diversification: A Win-Win Approach

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 1:40:00 GMT

This article discusses why Russia replaced the South Stream project with the TurkStream by changing its route and name, and why Turkey is involved in a project on the North-South line although it plays a vital role in the Trans-Anatolia Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) project in the southern gas corridor. The article first examines the Russia-Ukraine natural gas crisis. It then moves to analyze the reasons behind Russia’s changing of the name and the route of the South Stream project. After exploring Turkey’s involvement in the project, the article concludes by arguing that both countries adopted a win-win approach toward the project that Russia has gained a significant tariff advantage and freedom from the EU third-party-access rule. The article claims that although both Russia and Turkey have different perspectives on some issues in international politics, they can develop their cooperation with a win-win approach in the TurkStream project.

The Legal and Political Dimensions of the Eastern Mediterranean Crisis: What Is at Stake?

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 1:59:00 GMT

The main challenge in relation to Mediterranean gas is the distribution of potential gas reserves which inevitably entails delimitation of maritime borders. However, in the context of the Eastern Mediterranean, this is highly problematic mainly due to the status of the Greek islands along with their close proximity to the Turkish mainland and the failure in resolving the ‘Cyprus issue.’ There are two key questions in relation to the Eastern Mediterranean crisis: (i) What are the contesting claims over maritime border delimitation between Turkey, Greece, and the Greek Administration of Southern Cyprus with reference to the international law? (ii) Why has the Eastern Mediterranean dispute been politicized so much that it has drawn in countries far from the region? This article examines the legal and political dimensions of the Eastern Mediterranean crisis by analyzing the respective countries’ standpoints through the lens of international law along with the implications of earlier such disputes. The article also investigates the political dimensions of the crisis by looking into alliance formation and how existing political tensions in the region came to the surface in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Civil Society, NGOs and Religion in the European Refugee Crisis: A Review

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 17:04:00 GMT

When the three books under review are examined together, it is possible to identify some common themes. One of them is that the European states and the EU at large did not efficiently tackled the 2015 refugee crisis. The concept of ‘refugee crisis’ itself has been used to describe not the troublesome journey immigrants have to make, but the catastrophe triggered by the European countries’ failed management of the situation. Despite the fact that people have valid reasons for immigrating, and some of the countries have the power to accept asylum seekers, they failed to do so and, as a result, their anti-immigration policy mobilized some part of their civil societies. In this respect, civil societies are positioned against decision-makers and humanitarian motives such as solidarity become a political stance.

Eastern Mediterranean and Turkey: Political, Judicial and Economic Perspectives

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 2:27:00 GMT

The major successes of the book are, first, that it analyzes the multidimensional nature of the conflict in an overview, covering all aspects of the subject in a balanced manner. Second, referring to historical facts, data, figures, tables, and comparative analysis makes the study empirically strong.

Eternal Dawn: Turkey in the Age of Atatürk

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 2:41:00 GMT

In Eternal Dawn: Turkey in the Age of Atatürk¸ Ryan Gingeras deals with the origins of modern Turkey and its founder, Atatürk. Studies of this subject have never been scarce in the literature.

Arab Political Thought: Past and Present

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 2:47:00 GMT

Arab Political Thought: Past and Present is an attempt to distinguish between Arab and Islamic political thoughts to advocate the idea that Arab political thought is more than what the literature generally presents.

Sovereignty RIP

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 2:53:00 GMT

In Sovereignty RIP, Don Herzog exquisitely traces the journey of ‘sovereignty,’ taking the readers centuries back. Apart from its academic merit, the book will be of great interest to anyone interested in learning about the conception of sovereign power and its journey to the present.

The Wall: The Making and Unmaking of the Turkish-Syrian Border

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 3:00:00 GMT

Ramazan Aras, in The Wall, provides an ethnographic and anthropological account of the border-making practices of the Turkish state along the Syrian border, which most recently culminated in the building of the Turkish-Syrian security wall.

Rich Russians: From Oligarchs to Bourgeoisie

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 3:05:00 GMT

The book appeals to anyone interested to learn about the rapid evolution of this new social class in Russia. The readers that value this unique social phenomenon would definitely find the book worthy of their attention.

Turkey, Kemalism and the Soviet Union: Problems of Modernization, Ideology and Interpretation

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 3:09:00 GMT

The work mainly focuses on the early period of the 1920s and the 1930s, which is essential for understanding Kemalism’s formation. The 1970s, which the author characterizes as a period of normalization between the USSR and Turkey, is not as well-researched. Nevertheless, overall this book is highly recommended for scholars in the fields of contemporary Turkish history and politics.

International Relations since 1945: East, West, North, South

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 3:14:00 GMT

In International Relations Since 1945: East, West, North, South, Lundestad traverses a vast historical timeline of International Relations (IR) that encompasses the Cold War (1945-1993) and the post-Cold War period up to 2017. In the book, Lundestad demonstrates that trends in the U.S. and Russian foreign policy have remained constant, although the pursuit of goals is affected by changes in political personalities, ideological differences, and political and economic systems.

Strategy and Strategic Discourse in Turkish Foreign Policy

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 3:20:00 GMT

The book provides a wealth of necessary theoretical and historical background for understanding the security strategies of Turkish foreign policy. Yükselen grounds its discussion on the question of how the discursive aspects of Turkey’s strategy were shaped between 1919 and 2015.

Women as War Criminals: Gender, Agency, and Justice

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 3:26:00 GMT

This work initiates a debate of war criminals between men and women, through examples that were prosecuted for similar crimes, unlike the rest of the literature of gender studies. In this work, the authors shed light on four female war criminals and their roles in times of war.

Web Panel | The Energy Equation in the Eastern Mediterranean

Thu, 09 Jun 2022 12:41:00 GMT

Following the publication of the Winter 2021 special issue "New Geopolitics in the Eastern Mediterranean," Insight Turkey coordinated the panel called Energy Equation in the Eastern Mediterranean as a follow-up event. The panel, which was held online due to the COVD-19 pandemic, was broadcast live on YouTube and other social media platforms.

Web Panel | New Geopolitics in the Eastern Mediterranean

Thu, 09 Jun 2022 12:47:00 GMT

As a continuation of the 1st Panel held on March 26, Insight Turkey held a second panel entitled the "New Geopolitics in the Eastern Mediterranean" . The panelists discussed the Eastern Mediterranean issue from different perspectives. The panel, which was held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was broadcast live on YouTube and other social media platforms.