This study analyzes Turkey’s Eastern Mediterranean policy and tries to define the priorities and dimensions of the geopolitical struggle in the Eastern Mediterranean as a response to recent approaches to reduce the definition and frame of Turkey’s Eastern Mediterranean policy. Turkey’s Eastern Mediterranean policy cannot be confined exclusively to the Greece-Turkey relations, Cyprus, the concept of “Blue Homeland”, or the hydrocarbon reserves. The study opposes such a reduction of it and asserts that the Turkey’s Eastern Mediterranean policy should be addressed from a broader perspective which includes all of the above, but is not limited to them. The study explains the purview of Turkey’s Eastern Mediterranean policy and, in this framework, discusses the pillars on which it should be founded. An analytical frame for Turkey’s Eastern Mediterranean strategy is presented by setting forth its aims, objectives, and the policies that have been implemented to date.
The Ministry of National Defense (MSB) reported that the MTA Oruç Reis seismic research ship, which started operating in the Eastern Mediterranean, was escorted and protected by the Turkish Naval Forces. (Ministry of National Defense - Anadolu Agency)
