Tag: Turkey

Erdogan’s planned visit to Nakhchivan following Baku’s military offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh has raised significant concerns regarding the territorial integrity of Armenia since Azerbaijan and Turkey may actively seek to establish the conditions for a potential military intervention in Armenia’s Syunik Province, with the ultimate aim of securing the Zangezur Corridor.

The recent capitulation of Nagorno-Karabakh in the face of Azerbaijan’s military offensive has brought to light Russia’s recalibrated strategic approach in the region. This shift focuses on forging a robust alliance with both Baku and Ankara, a move designed to bolster the INSTC and leverage Turkish land as a potential hub for its new energy approach.

Turkey-Iran relations have always been discontinuous, characterised by cooperation on the diplomatic level, alternating with opposite geopolitical needs and foreign strategies. Nowadays, especially in the Middle East and the Caucasus, Pan-Turkism and strategic needs drive Ankara-Tehran relations.

Turkey’s engagement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has evolved into a strategic endeavour, marked by Ankara’s quest for deeper economic, diplomatic, and cultural connections.

The upcoming Turkish elections might affect Ankara-Tehran relations if the opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu will defeat the president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and, thus, change domestic and foreign policies.

After the November 13th terrorist bombing attack in Turkey, Ankara started a military operation targeting Kurdish forces in Syria and Iraq. While Russia is concentrated on Ukraine and Iran is facing internal turmoil, Turkey is gaining ground in the Middle East.

The discovery of a massive deposit of rare earth elements in Turkey might change the geopolitical dynamics in the Eurasian chessboard since Ankara might challenge China, which has had the leading role in the market until now. Furthermore, this finding might change the domestic political scenario in Turkey and quiet doubts and disappointment about the country’s economic performance.

Over the past two months, the tension in Greek-Turkish relations has reached new heights. What triggered it seemed to have been the age-old Turkish claims concerning the continental shelf delimitation and the total demilitarisation of the Greek Islands in the Eastern Aegean.

On June 15th, 2022, the 18th international meeting of Astana Peace Talks kicked off in Nur Sultan, the capital of Kazakhstan. As guarantor countries, delegations from Russia, Turkey and Iran (which launched the Astana peace process in January 2017) will meet the Syrian government and opposition forces during the two-day talks.

In the aftermath of the events in Ukraine and the sanctions imposed on Russia, European countries are straggling in search of alternative gas imports. Turkey started a military operation in northern Iraq to ensure gas supplies from Kurdish fields.

The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) plays a key role in promoting Ankara’s influence and presence in strategic regions through socio-cultural, economic and humanitarian projects.

The recent online summit of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States stressed Ankara’s desire to enhance the cooperation with Central Asian countries elevating its geopolitical role and threatening China and Russia with pan-Turkism ideology. 

Turkey continues its technical military partnership with the Russian Federation because of Ankara’s will of upgrading its defence system and capabilities and make the country less dependent from NATO. The second Turkish purchase of the Russian S-400 might change the balance inside the North Atlantic Alliance and make Moscow and Ankara closer in the international arena.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan continues in his policy of exploiting migrants and refugees to checkmate the European Union denouncing the lack of political and material support for his very personal invasion of Syria. Due to the reopening of the Turkish borders with Greece, a huge number of refugees and migrants might come to Europe significantly affecting the current situation of the EU countries which are facing the problem of coronavirus.