Perspectives on the New Centrality of the Mediterranean States: The Role of Turkey in a Changing Region

Turkey has growingly increased its activism in the Mediterranean. Engaged on several fronts—from the gas dispute to migration issues, the ongoing conflicts in Libya and Syria and the longstanding dispute over Cyprus—Turkey is a key player in the eastern region of the Basin. Yet, the Mediterranean has been a very important area for the Turkish Republic ever since the first years of its foundation, but its foreign policy started to look at the region as a whole only since the Nineties. Most recent events show that Turkey’s policies and interventions in the Basin appear to be linked to a broader and more complex framework in which various international political trajectories and domestic issues merge. This article contains an outline of Turkish foreign policy’s historical framework, attempting to emphasize when and in what manner various interests resulted in the Mediterranean being considered a geostrategic area; how interest in the Mediterranean was accompanied by Turkey’s rise as a regional power and then an analysis of the most recent challenges faced.