Geopolitics and Geoeconomics of the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Conflict: Analysis of Turkey’s Policy

Abstract

This study reviews the relationship between geopolitics and geo-economics of the Eastern Mediterranean gas resources and Turkey’s perspective on it. The dispute over the region’s resources has entered a dangerous phase in 2019, and the coastal countries are trying to discover new gas resources in areas that overlap with other countries’ marine basins. This has caused a new conflict in the region at two levels. The first level is the dispute between Turkey and Greece over the Cyprus issue, which has also been drawn to this issue. The second one is the fierce geopolitical rivalry between Turkey and other coastal actors such as Egypt and Israel. For showing its decisiveness, Turkey signed a maritime border agreement with Libya in 2019 to neutralize its rivals on the gas issue. In this context, it may be asked, what does motivate the Turkish authorities in their strict policies towards the Eastern Mediterranean? According to the findings, Turkey is trying to take legal-political and military steps to faze the unity of rivals, and this has enabled the Turkish authorities to project and adapt their power in order to enhance their role and presence in the region.