‘Energized’ Neighborliness: Relations between Turkey and the Kurdish Regional Government

Throughout the 1980s and 90s, Turkey’s interest towards Northern Iraq was shaped along the axis of struggle against the PKK due to the group’s entrenchment in the region. In the second half of the 2000s, the relative autonomy that the Kurdish groups gained in Northern Iraq and then the later discovery of large amounts of oil and natural gas in the region added a new dimension to Ankara’s politics towards this region. Especially with the 2010 years, the topic of energy became the fundamental dynamic in Turkey’s relationship with the Kurdish Regional Government. This study is an attempt to analyze these energy relations which have come into play as a new parameter in the relations between Ankara and Erbil, and which also affect not only Turkey’s Middle East policy, but its domestic politics as well.