Winning The Zero on Eastern Mediterranean Chessboard: Players, Games and Moves

Year 2023, Volume: 1 Issue: 1, 69 - 93, 23.03.2023

Ali Faik Demir , Doğuş Sönmez , Emre Önkibar

Abstract

Competition over the extraction, transmission, and marketing of energy resources is one of the most fundamental contentious topics in contemporary international relations literature. The parties to this competition are the states, international institutions, and multinational corporations. The participants in this competition, which has taken place mainly on the chessboard in the Eastern Mediterranean, include regional and global powers. The fact that Türkiye holds rights over a portion of Cyprus, its historical ties to the region, and its status as an energy hub make it a significant regional actor. The questions that must be answered are how the new energy resources emerging in the Eastern Mediterranean region, where individual interests do not produce results, which are based on alliances between players and differ from other energy regions in this regard, will affect the relationships between the players, what moves regional actors will make, and how these moves will continue the game. From this vantage point, this study will explore the chessboard in the Eastern Mediterranean region in terms of the players and the position of Türkiye in this region and among these actors. It will be asserted that Türkiye engages in a lose-lose game that it cannot win alongside other actors.

Keywords

Eastern Mediterranean, Energy, Stag Hunt, Nash Equilibrium, Turkish Foreign Policy

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