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| Volume XIV, Spring 2007, Number 1 |
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ABSTRACT
Turkey’s Geopolitical Role: The Energy Angle
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| Ali Tekin/ Iva Walterova |
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Dr. Tekin is an assistant professor of International Relations at Bilkent University, Ankara. Ms. Walterova is a graduate student at the Department of International Relations, Bilkent University.
Turkey has historically been of great geopolitical importance to states in the regions surrounding it as well as to states more remotely located. As a member of NATO during the Cold War it was a geopolitical asset to the Western bloc as a strong ally in close proximity to the Soviet Union. With the fall of the Warsaw Pact, this consideration disappeared. However, Turkey has regained its geopolitical importance for other reasons. One of these is its location between large energy markets and major energy producers. Though it lacks its own significant mineral reserves,1 it has strategic advantages for energy transit as it lies between the Middle East, Russia and the Caucasus and the large energy markets of Europe and the West.
Many believe that having control over energy-transport corridors could be almost as essential as having control over energy supplies themselves.2 With its geostrategic position between important energy suppliers and consumers, Turkey can create a powerful role for itself in the global energy market. Turkey and other global actors have been working towards strengthening the country’s role as an energy hub, aggregator and transit corridor in its region.3 The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline carrying oil from the Caspian to the Mediterranean opened in July 2006,4 and many other projects, including the Nabucco pipeline, which would supply Caspian gas to the EU, bypassing Russia,5 are under serious consideration. Through such initiatives, Turkey can not only gain energy security for itself, but also contribute to global energy security.
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