CIAO DATE: 07/2010
May 2010
Global Political Trends Center
After 9/11 and the War on Terror, Turkey has progressively and substantially started to re-evaluate its geopolitical assets through a series of active and multi-faceted regional diplomacy and mobilization initiatives. The widening of its sphere of influence and issueentanglement has taken serious proportions, which can be explained in the eyes of an external observer from the acknowledgement of the country’s vital geopolitical position, political influence and efficiency, and economic potential and dynamics. As a matter of fact, this shift has been materialized through a series of events that started from the noncompliance of the Turkish government to provide its facility services (i.e. military airports) for the needs of the NATO aircraft troops’ expedition in Iraq in 2003, stepping to the advancement of the country’s mediating role in the Arab-Israeli Conflict, passing from the enhancement of bilateral relations with Russia, and ending up with the wide and extrovert skepticism over the acquisition of the EU full membership status. Given these facts, Turkey seems to behave more confidently in the regional chessboard by balancing different interests while solidifying its voice and role as a pivotal power. This Policy Brief examines the way Turkey has achieved to re-assert its geopolitical role and aims to put a light on eventual steps that can set the country as an equal interlocutor along with the US, Russia, and the EU, addressing the current global economic crisis and giving possible solutions to the major issues involved in its backyard.
Resource link: Turkey's Geopolitical Assertiveness: Re-evaluating the balance of power in terms of political and economic leverage in Southeastern Europe, the Middle East, and the Caspian Region [PDF] - 312K