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The European Rim Policy and Investment Council (ERPIC) hosted the second of its three-part conference focusing on the security of the Greater Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean, where Christos Iacovou of the Cyprus Research Centre (KYKEM) sketched Foreign Minister Ahmet Davudoglu’s vision of a new regionally dominant benevolent Turkey.
A vision, however, that identifies Cyprus and the Aegean, as “vital Turkish space” over which Turkey must extend its full control, Iacovou explained.
Dr. Nickolas Grief of Bournemouth University, UK, explained that every state has complete and exclusive sovereignty over its airspace and territorial waters but that systematic violations that go unchallenged, eventually lead to loss of such sovereignty.
Gary Lakes of the Middle East Economic Survey illustrated how Turkey has managed to become a vital part of western energy security by extending its pipeline network and increasing its role as an energy hub.
But as more countries in the Middle East and Central Asia become hydrocarbon producers, transporting the energy to end consumers in the West is an increasingly competitive affair that has also strained Turkey’s relations with its neighbors as well as with its traditional allies, Lakes added.
Dr. Alon Liel, Ambassador and former Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel traced the recent deterioration in Turkish-Israeli ties, while Professor Avishai Ehrlich of the University of Tel Aviv confirmed that the main reason for this deterioration is the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict and Turkey’s efforts to appear as the champion of the Palestinian and the wider Islamic cause, something that has made Erdogan very popular in the Islamic world.
Finally, Dr. Klearchos Kyriakides of the University of Hertfordshire stressed the importance of the rule of law for the stability of a state but also the international system.
He pointed out that despite its diplomatic and public relations efforts, Turkey has not exhibited the necessary respect for international law or human rights to merit its growing regional and global role.
