TURKEY'S DESECURITIZATION OF ENERGY RESOURCES IN THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN AFTER RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR

Year 2023, Volume: 5 Issue: 2, 148 - 171, 31.12.2023

Mehmet Ferhat Fırat , Rahman Dağ

Abstract

After the Russia-Ukraine war, energy politics has become a subject of security studies due to the European states' energy dependency on Russian natural gas. With the Russia-Ukraine war, Eastern Mediterranean gas has become more critical for the EU's energy security. However, the ongoing disputes and impossibilities regarding the transfer of Eastern Mediterranean gas to Europe have opened the door for the actors to re-evaluate the securitized energy relations. Turkey has been securitizing discovered energy resources in the Eastern Mediterranean with discourses on the violation of its maritime sovereignty and ignoring the Turkish Cypriots by the actors in the region. This paper argues that Turkey's energy politics in the region tends to take the opposite direction, from securitization to desecuritization. Turkey's decades-long energy hub projects will serve to this end and gain more importance for Europe. In this sense, Turkey accelerated its desecuritization initiatives by taking normalization steps with the regional actors Israel, Egypt, and Greece, against which Turkey securitized energy resources.

Keywords

Russia-Ukraine War, Securitization, Desecuritization, Energy Security, Eastern Mediterranean

RUSYA-UKRAYNA SAVAŞI SONRASINDA TÜRKİYE'NİN DOĞU AKDENİZ'DEKİ ENERJİ KAYNAKLARINI GÜVENLİKDIŞILAŞTIRMASI

Abstract

Rusya-Ukrayna savaşı sonrasında Avrupa devletlerinin Rusya doğalgazına olan bağımlılığı nedeniyle enerji politikaları güvenlik çalışmalarının konusu haline gelmiştir. Rusya-Ukrayna savaşıyla birlikte Doğu Akdeniz gazı AB'nin enerji güvenliği açısından çok daha önemli hale gelmiştir. Ancak Doğu Akdeniz gazının Avrupa'ya transferi konusunda süregelen anlaşmazlıklar ve imkansızlıklar, aktörlerin güvenlikleştirilmiş enerji ilişkilerini yeniden değerlendirmelerinin kapısını araladı. Türkiye, bölgedeki aktörler tarafından deniz egemenliğinin ihlal edildiği ve Kıbrıs Türklerinin görmezden gelindiği söylemleriyle Doğu Akdeniz'de keşfedilen enerji kaynaklarını güvenlikleştirmiştir. Bu makale, Türkiye'nin bölgedeki enerji politikalarının, güvenlikleştirmeden güvenlikdışılaştırmaya doğru ters yönde ilerleme eğiliminde olduğunu ileri sürmektedir. Türkiye'nin onlarca yıldır sürdürdüğü enerji merkezi olma projeleri bu amaca hizmet etmiş ve Avrupa açısından daha da önem kazanmıştır. Bu anlamda Türkiye, enerji kaynaklarını güvenlikleştirdiği bölgesel aktörlerle İsrail, Mısır ve Yunanistan, normalleşme adımları atarak, güvenlikdışılaştırma girişimlerini hızlandırmıştır.

Keywords

Rusya-Ukrayna Savaşı, Güvenlikleştirme, Güvenlikdışılaştırma, Enerji Güvenliği, Doğu Akdeniz

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