Turkey and Italy: Interests and Cooperation in the Mediterranean and the Middle East

Abstract

Both Turkey’s and Italy’s strategic centers lie outside the Mediterranean, in particular the North Atlantic and Europe, where their major alliances, namely NATO and EU, are located. Their gravitation towards these centers has involved the two countries in policy frameworks in the Mediterranean initiated by those alliances, such as the NATO Mediterranean Dialogue, the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership and the Union for the Mediterranean. This situation has been altered by the end of the Cold War and the weakening of the alliances’ rationales and, even more so, by the post-September 11 American decision to intervene militarily in the Middle East. This intervention has shifted Turkey’s and Italy’s focus in their southern approaches from the Mediterranean to the Middle East. While Italy’s shift is peripheral with respect to its foreign policy strategy and is mostly an opportunistic move, Turkey’s shift may have a more structural significance and bring about changes in its strategic posture. Cooperation between Turkey and Italy in the Mediterranean and the Middle East involves less strategic-intense areas, such as developing structured economic cooperation in the area, support for small and medium sized firms, transport and energy security. In

Keywords

• Turkey- Italy bilateral relations, EU, Middle East, Union for the Mediterranean.

References

1. Mehmet Babacan, “Whither Axis Shift: A Perspective From Turkey’s Foreign Trade”, SETA Policy Report, No. 4 (November 2010).
2. Roberto Aliboni, “La politique méditerranéenne de l’Italie: de la stratégie à la routine”, Confluences Méditerranée, No. 68, Hiver 2008-2009, pp. 173-182; Maurizio Carbone, “Italy in the European Union, between Prodi and Berlusconi”, The International Spectator, Vol. 44, No. 3 (September 2009), pp. 97-115.
3. The respective role of the Mediterranean and the Middle East from Italy’s point of view is brilliantly discussed by Ludovico Incisa della Camerana, “Oltre il Mediterraneo” (Beyond the Mediterranean), Politica Internazionale, Vol.23, No. 2 (January-April 1993), pp. 25-31. The author, a diplomat, has always supported the idea that the real and long-term strategy of Italy leans towards the Middle East rather than the Mediterranean. Recent events seem to vindicate his views.
4. Maria Antonia di Casola, “Turchia e Mediterraneo. Il rifiuto della marginalizzazione” (Turkey and the Mediterranean. The refuse of marginalization), Nuova Antologia, No. 2247 (July-September 2008), pp. 103-125.
5. An official point of view can be found in Hüseyin Naci Akıncı, “L’Union pour la Méditerranée. Approche de la Turquie”, Etudes Internationales, No. 109 (December 2008), pp. 126-131.
6. An excellent review of Turkish-Italian relations can be found in the interview to the Italian Ambassador in Ankara, Carlo Marsili in Emine Kart, “Italy’s motto in ties with Turkey: A friend in need is a friend indeed”, Today’s Zaman, 27 October 2009.