Tackling Uncertainty: Turkish-EU Foreign Policy Cooperation in the Middle East and North Africa
With the withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan, the continuation of overlapping security and socio-economic challenges across much of the Middle East and North Africa and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, foreign policy cooperation between the EU and Turkey is assuming even greater relevance than in the past. Nonetheless, despite the existence of several areas of mutual concern (from migration to energy supplies and the need for inclusive reconciliation initiatives in various conflict and post-conflict settings), bilateral relations have often been strained and at times even conflictual. Departing from the assumption that space for cooperation clearly does exist (and is desirable for both actors), the project investigates the respective foreign policy approaches of Europe and Turkey towards five regional case studies (Afghanistan, the Eastern Mediterranean, Iraq, Libya and Syria). It then maps areas of cooperation or divergence in each of these contexts, advancing policy recommendations to promote more sustainable cooperation and understanding between two actors in their shared neighbourhood.
Paper produced in the framework of the project “Tackling Uncertainty: EU-Turkish Foreign Policy Cooperation in the MENA”.
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Details
Rome, IAI, July 2022, 100 p. -
ISBN/ISSN/DOI:
978-88-9368-256-5
1. Tackling Uncertainty: EU–Turkish Foreign Policy Cooperation in the MENA, by Senem Aydin-Düzgit, Andrea Dessì and Daniela Huber, p. 4-24
1.1 Analytical approach and research objectives
1.2 Turkey, the EU and evolving geopolitics in the MENA
2. Taking EU-Turkish Refugee Cooperation Beyond Humanitarian Assistance, by Kemal Kirisci, p. 25-37
2.1 Protracted presence of refugees and the absence of durable solutions
2.2 Supporting self-reliance and its limits
2.3 How to boost self-reliance through job creation?
Conclusion
3. Turkey–EU Cooperation on Afghanistan, by Ömer Aslan, p. 38-50
3.1 An incipient Turkish debate on Afghanistan
3.2 Two dynamics of Turkey’s Afghanistan engagement
3.3 EU debates and the future of Afghanistan
3.4 Grounds for cooperation
3.5 Planning for uncertainties
4. Promoting EU–Turkey Cooperation in Iraq: Challenges and Prospects, by Meliha Benli Altunisik, p. 51-60
4.1 An evolving context
4.2 Turkey’s foreign policy towards Iraq
4.3 Domestic debates in Turkey
4.4 Possibilities for Turkey–EU cooperation in Iraq
5. Energy, Delimitation and Geopolitics of the Eastern Mediterranean: Competition or Cooperation between Turkey and the EU?, by Mitat Çelikpala, p. 61-74
5.1 Trajectories of cooperation and competition in the Eastern Mediterranean
5.2 Turkey and the Eastern Mediterranean: The Blue Homeland Doctrine
5.3 The EU and the Eastern Mediterranean
5.4 Promoting de-escalation: The search for normalisation
Conclusions
6. EU–Turkey Trajectories of Cooperation and Competition over Libya, by Ezgi Uzun, p. 75-88
6.1 Pathways for concerted European action
6.2 Post-Berlin cooperation patterns
6.3 Major points of divergence
6.4 Possible black swan events
7. EU–Turkey Cooperation Outlooks: Conclusion and Policy Recommendations, by Alessia Chiriatti and Andrea Dessì, p. 89-97
7.1 Trajectories of cooperation or divergence
7.2 Policy recommendations
Abbreviations, p. 98-99
Authors, p. 100