THE AFTERMATH OF BAKU-TBILISI-CEYHAN PIPELINE: CHALLENGES AHEAD FOR TURKEY

Abstract

Turkey’s geopolitical location is crucial to diversify and secure the energy-transportation routes for the EU energy markets. However, the challenges stemming from the EU’s energy policy, the geopolitics of Kazakh oil and Turkmen gas, and the increasing turbulence in Middle East are important to secure and diversify resources for the planned energy hub in Turkey. Rather than the EU members’ individual initiatives, an external energy policy should be in place to carry out the planning and the financing of the required infrastructure in coordination with the on-going projects for an energy hub in Turkey. This article argues that there is no political determination to create a fully integrated internal energy market and a coherent external energy policy in the EU. In the lack of such a political determination not only the EU energy security strategy but also the planned energy hub in Turkey, emphasized as “strategic importance to the EU,” will be undermined

Keywords

• Energy security, Turkey’s energy policy, EU’s energy strategy, the Caspian region.