Turkey’s Geostrategic Vision and Energy Concerns in the Eastern Mediterranean Security Architecture: A View from Ankara

The document analyzes Turkey's ambition to become a regional energy hub and how this goal conflicts with its assertive geostrategic vision and the emerging energy partnerships of other Eastern Mediterranean states. It details Turkey's use of 'gunboat diplomacy' and naval presence to protect the sovereign rights of Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) against the Republic of Cyprus (RoC) and its allies. The authors argue that the current security architecture, characterized by trilateral partnerships and maritime boundary disputes, creates a challenge for Turkish policymakers attempting to reconcile energy ambitions with national security and sovereignty claims.

• Turkey rejects the Republic of Cyprus's (RoC) unilateral exploration of natural gas and its delimitation agreements with Israel, Egypt, and Lebanon, viewing them as violations of the sovereign rights of Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).
• To protect its claims and those of the TRNC, Turkey has employed 'gunboat diplomacy,' including the use of naval forces to block foreign operations in offshore blocks licensed to the Turkish national energy company TPAO.
• The Eastern Mediterranean contains significant natural gas reserves, with estimated totals over 3,000 billion cubic meters (bcm), primarily located in Egypt and the Levant Basin.
• The authors conclude that the current energy security architecture in the Eastern Mediterranean, specifically the trilateral partnerships excluding Turkey, makes the realization of 'peace pipelines' (such as Israel-Cyprus-Turkey) unlikely due to a lack of political alignment.

APA

İşeri, E., & Bartan, A. Ç. (2019). Turkey’s Geostrategic Vision and Energy Concerns in the Eastern Mediterranean Security Architecture: A View from Ankara. Peace Research Institute Oslo. https://files.prio.org/publication_files/cyprus/GeopoliticsEasternMediterranean/The%20New%20Geopolitics%20of%20the%20Eastern%20Mediterranean%20-%20Chapter%207%20-%20Turkeys%20Geostrategic..%20-%20Emre%20Iseri%20Ahmet%20C%20Bartan.pdf

Chicago

İşeri, Emre, and Ahmet Çağrı Bartan. Turkey’s Geostrategic Vision and Energy Concerns in the Eastern Mediterranean Security Architecture: A View from Ankara. Peace Research Institute Oslo, 2019. https://files.prio.org/publication_files/cyprus/GeopoliticsEasternMediterranean/The%20New%20Geopolitics%20of%20the%20Eastern%20Mediterranean%20-%20Chapter%207%20-%20Turkeys%20Geostrategic..%20-%20Emre%20Iseri%20Ahmet%20C%20Bartan.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=İşeri |first1=Emre |last2=Bartan |first2=Ahmet Çağrı |title=Turkey’s Geostrategic Vision and Energy Concerns in the Eastern Mediterranean Security Architecture: A View from Ankara |publisher=Peace Research Institute Oslo |date=2019 |url=https://files.prio.org/publication_files/cyprus/GeopoliticsEasternMediterranean/The%20New%20Geopolitics%20of%20the%20Eastern%20Mediterranean%20-%20Chapter%207%20-%20Turkeys%20Geostrategic..%20-%20Emre%20Iseri%20Ahmet%20C%20Bartan.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ieri2019turkeys, author = {İşeri, Emre and Bartan, Ahmet Çağrı}, title = {{Turkey’s Geostrategic Vision and Energy Concerns in the Eastern Mediterranean Security Architecture: A View from Ankara}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, year = {2019}, url = {https://files.prio.org/publication_files/cyprus/GeopoliticsEasternMediterranean/The%20New%20Geopolitics%20of%20the%20Eastern%20Mediterranean%20-%20Chapter%207%20-%20Turkeys%20Geostrategic..%20-%20Emre%20Iseri%20Ahmet%20C%20Bartan.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }