Lenore G. Martin

Turkey and Gulf Cooperation Council Security

Abstract Turkey has increased its diplomacy, trade, and investment with the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and since September 2008 has committed to a “strategic dialogue” with the GCC. Can Turkey and the GCC engage in security cooperation to meet common threats emanating from a nuclear Iran, radical Islamists, and instability in Iraq? Turkeys need to obtain Iranian energy supplies and cooperation in combating Kurdish terrorism and GCC concerns not to alienate Iran suggest that Turkey and the GCC will proceed cautiously and will need to take additional steps to facilitate their security cooperation.

Turkey's national security in the Middle East

The Middle East poses threats and opportunities for Turkeys national security. This article analyzes Turkeys national security considering five integrated variables: the regimes political legitimacy, the societys ethnic and religious tolerance, the availability of essential natural resources such as water, oil, and gas, the states economic capabilities, and the states military capabilities. The article examines the foreign policy directions and complex choices facing policymakers regarding Turkeys relations with Iraq, Iran, Syria, Israel, and the GCC states, in order to preserve Turkeys national security in the Middle East.

New frontiers in Middle East security

Preface and Acknowledgments L.Martin PART 1: THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS Towards an Integrated Approach to National Security in the Middle East L.Martin PART II: POLITICAL LEGITIMACY Political Legitimacy and the Production of History: The Case of Saudi Arabia M.Al-Rasheed Reform Without Democracy? R.Norton & F.Kazemi Legitimacy and Security in Arab Countries M.K.Al-Sayyid PART III: RELIGIOUS AND ETHNIC TOLERANCE Religious Communities, Secularism, and Security in Turkey S.Ayata & A.Gunes-Ayata Ethnicity and Security Problems in Turkey A.Gunes-Ayata & S.Ayata PART IV: ECONOMIC CAPABILITIES Economic Improvement in the Middle East: A Genuine Move Forward or Preservation of the Status Quo? S.Shahabi & F.Farhi The Economic Component of Middle East Security: Twenty-First Century Options R.Owen PART V: AVAILABILITY OF ESSENTIAL NATURAL RESOURCES Water and Security in the Middle East: The Israeli-Syrian Water Confrontations: A Case Study H.Shuval PART VI: MILITARY CAPABILITIES Towards the Emergence of a Mutual Security System in the Middle East Y.Evron Conclusions: Crossing the New Frontiers L.Martin Index

Turkey and the USA in a Bipolarizing Middle East

Since 2011, the Middle East has become more bipolarized between Iran and the USA and their respective allies. The Syrian civil war has become a proxy conflict between the two blocs. Systems theory helps us understand the patterns of international politics to be expected in a bipolarizing system, as does the analysis of national interests. The expansion of Iranian power and Syrian strife have increased threats to Turkish security, giving Ankara incentives to coordinate its Middle East policies more closely with those of Washington. However, Turkeys estrangement from Israel creates an obstacle to effective cooperation. The USA should actively try to remove this obstacle by helping Ankara and Tel Aviv resolve their differences.

A New Track towards Resolving Turkey’s Kurdish Issue

Abstract: Turkey’s greatest security threats are connected to its unresolved Kurdish issue. Attempts by the Justice and Development Party goernment of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to end the conflict with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Turkey have so far been unsuccessful. Since the end of direct negotiations in July 2015 which included the jailed leader of the PKK, Abdullah Öcalan, war in Turkey’s southeast has caused increased humanitarian tragedy and security costs for Turkey, undermining the good governance required for social stability. It is highly unlikely that military force will eliminate the PKK terrorist attacks or that any international pressure will induce the government to resume negotiations at the government level, the traditional Track I path. A new approach is needed. This article proposes that Turkish civil society organizations engage in Track II diplomacy that can reduce ethnic tensions and develop new ideas that increase the prospects for success over the long term for ending the PKK struggle and resolving the Kurdish Issue in Turkey.

Special Issue on Turkey and the Middle East

In recent years, Turkey’s Middle East policy has become a subject of debate both in Turkey and abroad. Turkey has become increasingly important in the Middle East. Some have even talked about a tilt toward the East. But a clearer analysis would see Turkey’s aspirations in the region as sitting on a three-legged stool. The first leg, increasing trade and investment and access to energy, is vital for Turkey’s own economic growth and stability. The Middle East offers Turkey a great opportunity to expand in this marketplace. The second leg, engaging with its security challenges in the region, involves the issue of the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), concern over instability in Iraq, an increasingly strong Iran, a relationship with Syria that has gone from enmity to one of trust and development to one of distrust and concern, a trying relationship with Israel and a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) relationship that is growing if somewhat tentative. The third leg, achieving recognition as a global player, is based in great part on Turkey’s growing influence in the complex and vital Middle East. The uprisings that began with Tunisia in December 2010 and spread to many parts of the Arab world are challenging Ankara’s ability to maintain a steady balance on that three-legged stool. It is therefore a particularly timely moment for this Special Issue of Turkish Studies on the topic of Turkey in the Middle East. The volume begins with Meliha Altunisik and Lenore Martin’s conceptualization of Turkish foreign policy in the Middle East under the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP, Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi). The authors first discuss the question of change in foreign policy in general and then raise the specific question of change and continuity in Turkish foreign policy toward the region. Can the changes noted by so many be characterized as a rupture? Are there not continuities? The authors then ask to what extent the AKP’s foreign policy is related to the party’s ideological outlook and to what extent it can be explained by Turkey’s pragmatic pursuit of its national interests in the context of structural transformations in the international arena. Taking the analysis further, the article looks at the domestic impact of the AKP’s choices in the region, the perception of Turkey by the people and regimes in the area, and lastly the effect of Turkey’s role on its image and influence in the global arena. Two of the major Turkish foreign policy goals in the Middle East are economic growth and access to its rich energy resources. Özlem Tür argues that it is politics that leads and enables the push for increasing economic interactions. She further Turkish Studies Vol. 12, No. 4, 565–568, December 2011

Turkey as a Trans‐Regional Actor

There is a fashion in foreign policy commentary that seeks to encapsulate in a single concept a country’s style and orientation in the pursuit of its national interests. Thus, during the Cold War, for the Soviets, America was “imperialist”; for the United States, the Soviet Union was “expansionist,” and the Third World was “non-aligned.” Turkish foreign policy since the Cold War has been labeled “activist,” befitting a “pivotal state” in a “tough neighborhood.” Dr. Ahmet Davuto [ gbr ev] lu is the chief foreign policy advisor to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo [ gbr ev] an, who heads the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government. In a widely-quoted article, Dr. Davuto [ gbr ev] lu has described the style and orientation of the AKP government’s “new” foreign policy in accordance with five principles. The principles direct Ankara’s attention to Turkey’s neighboring regions and the various activities that Turkey needs to pursue to develop good relations with them. 1 The title of this special issue, “Turkey as a Trans-Regional Actor,” is an attempt to encapsulate Dr. Davuto [ gbr ev] lu’s principles, which Turkey’s government appears to be putting into practice. 2