Reports

Over the past several years, Turkey has become a major player in energy deliveries from the Caucasus to Europe, and its deepening partnership with Azerbaijan has only solidified its position as a regional power. As Russia’s grip on the region weakens, it could lead to serious security concerns, with Ankara ...

Tension has marked recent relations between the European Union and Turkey, from personal insults between leaders to spats over exploration rights in the Mediterranean Sea. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made conciliatory statements recently, but the question is whether anything can come of them. There are pathways to avoid ...

Discoveries of rich hydrocarbon deposits under the Eastern Mediterranean seabed have added a new driver to the region’s old rivalries. Athens claims nearly all of the Aegean Sea as exclusive economic zone and the delineation of sea borders near Cyprus prompted Turkey’s reaction. Now, NATO and the European Union have ...

After the 2009 and 2010 gas finds in the Eastern Mediterranean, many expected the region to become an energy hub. A decade later, myriad challenges remain and the coronavirus has made a bad situation worse. The European Union may decide against funding the EastMed pipeline project for economic reasons, although ...

Turkey and Russia, with their history of centuries-long rivalry in the Black Sea and the Middle East, are both pursuing deft regional policies that reflect a complex web of aligned and conflicting strategic interests

The United States appears to have adopted the strategy of the British Empire when dealing with the Middle East, creating dissent and lending assistance to whichever side opposes its enemies. However, history shows this approach is likely to backfire.

Turkey’s political behavior poses problems for NATO, of which it is an important member. Until recently, the country was a formidable partner of the Western alliance in its confrontation with the Soviet Union and a buffer against threats from the Middle East. Turkey still fields the alliance’s second-largest army, after ...

The opposition victory in Istanbul’s mayoral election was seen widely as a defeat for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose illiberal, centralized system is much criticized in the West. Yet Mr. Erdogan’s detractors underestimate the challenge of adapting to Turkey’s changing geopolitical circumstances, where the Kemalist principles of secularism and ...

Sitting at the intersection of important energy transfer routes, Turkey is an active participant in the high-stakes pipeline game between the European Union, Russia and the Caspian region energy producers. Ankara has increased its geopolitical heft and secured earnings from gas transit fees but at the price of making Turkey ...

Energy cooperation between Turkey and Russia has ramped up in recent years. If it grows any closer, it could threaten EU interests, especially the key Southern Gas Corridor project. But Turkey's own interests are also at risk if its dependence on Russian gas supplies grows. The question is whether President ...

If Europe and the United States try to exploit Turkey's current financial difficulties to apply political pressure, they will be making a serious mistake.

Before leaping at the opportunity to question the results of Sunday's election in Turkey, politicians and media in Europe and the United States would do well to consider the basis of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's appeal. Until Western leaders take into account Turkey's emerging regional role and interests, they cannot ...

Ankara is still groping for the right policy mix in dealing with complex challenges to Turkey’s vital interests in the Middle East, North Africa, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea region. A paradigm change, however, diverting its geopolitical attention away from Europe and NATO and toward its historic neighborhood, is ...

Turkey’s growing estrangement from the West stems from its domestic and regional ambitions, as well as from a feeling of being unwanted in the European Union. There is also a deeper undercurrent, present since the founding of the Turkish Republic, that questions the Kemalist strategy of a radical alignment with ...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hosted a summit in Ankara with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on April 4. The focus of the meeting was Syria. The move showed how Turkey is renewing efforts to overcome past rivalries and improve relations with its neighbors to solve ...

Europe can no longer take Turkey for granted or ignore its vital interests. Many in the West are rightfully displeased with the weakening of important institutions that the country has seen under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but realpolitik dictates cooperation in mutual interest. Europe and Turkey are ...

Turkey is a regional power, a direct neighbor of Middle Eastern states and their historic trading and political partner. The West continues to ignore its national interests only at the risk of its own security.

The relationship between Turkey and the EU has been rocky ever since the political crackdown after last year’s coup. Moscow has stepped in to enhance cooperation with Ankara, especially in energy. While Turkey is attempting to limit its dependence on Russian gas imports, all its options are complicated. This new ...

The relationship between Turkey and the European Union is on the rocks. Turkey cannot be considered eligible for membership, but the accession process remains officially ongoing. A collapse of the talks seems likely – but that would cause more problems than it would solve. Forging a new kind of partnership ...

Since the 19th century, Turkey has played a vital role in shoring up European security, but attempts to build a mutually beneficial relationship between its Muslim society and mostly Christian Europe have failed. Tensions continue today, and Turkey is the odd man out in the transatlantic system. Even so, Western ...

Turkey-bashing remains a favorite sport in the European Union, as shown by the two latest resolutions approved by the European Parliament on July 6. For short-term gain, politicians are needlessly alienating the EU's most important strategic partner to the south and east.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is now unleashed, having consolidated full power over Turkey’s ruling party, parliament and the judiciary. After sweeping away the remnants of democracy and the Kemalist state, he has reached the point of no return. Which raises a simple question: what happened to the “new Turkey” – ...

Early returns suggest that Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has prevailed in the referendum on giving him sweeping new powers, even if this mandate may not be a strong one at this point. The European Union should tread carefully: rather than try to marginalize the leader of Turkey, it should ...

Evidence that Russia tried to manipulate the outcome of the United States presidential elections is flimsy. It is increasingly clear, though, that EU leaders themselves are manipulating their electorates with gross anti-Turkey populism as they try to cling to power.