India’s Energy Route and Transit Pipelines Deadlocks in the Context of the Relations with Central Asia

Year 2021, Volume: 10 Issue: 4, 3766 - 3793, 30.12.2021

Murat Yorulmaz

https://doi.org/10.15869/itobiad.1021690

Abstract

India and Central Asia states that have common historical, religious and cultural inheritance have an expanding relationship plexus in the context of growing commercial activities, Central Asia’s growing wconomical potential and India’s soft power policies towards the region. It has been seen that the relevant relations started to gain depth before the Soviet period parochially. Hardly, it has been realized that although the progress the relationships between India and Central Asia states got slower in the period of the Soviet Union and following period, India’s ties with the region were not sheared nevermore. India tried to accelerate its relations with the region at diplomatic level aftermath of the Soviet Union particularly. The main two reasons of this phenomenon were Kashmis issue between India and Pakistan and India’s solitude in the international system after breaking of the Soviet Union. India and Central Asia are ingenous allies as well as they are strategic neighbours. Both sides are close to each other geographically and they are the parts of common history and cultural share. But, it is seen that India’s policies towards Central Asia have changed in the last decade on the base of its national interests and energy demand security by means of the transformation of Central Asia as a competition region of great powers. India – trying to be a partner of the competition in Central Asia – has challenges in the region such as energy issues with China, regional security with Russia, Muslims and secularism with Pakistan and being an active power with the U.S. It is realized that India – reverted to the region late in comparison with other actors – has increased its ties with region states and designated a foreign policy concept in the context of its geopolitic and geoeconomic interests in the last decade. In this context, the aim of the study is to analyze India-Central Asia relations, transit routes and India’s deadlocks in the region in terms of India’s increasing energy demand, energy security and its geopolitic and geoeconomic interests. According to the analysis in the study, it has realized that India has stated the region as an epicenter in terms of its energy security but has also realized that India has met dependency on neighboring countries and transit routes in the consequences of reasons like inadequate energy transmission lines, low economic development and indirect transportation to the region. This circumstance affects India’s energy security and cost adversely.

Keywords

India, Central Asia, Energy Security, Energy Demand, Transit Routes

Orta Asya ile İlişkileri Bağlamında Hindistan’ın Enerji Rotası ve Transit Hatlar Çıkmazı

Abstract

Tarihsel, dini ve kültürel ortak mirasa sahip Hindistan ve Orta Asya Devletleri günümüzde artan ticari faaliyetler, Orta Asya bölgesinin artan ekonomik potansiyeli ve bu bağlamda Hindistan’ın bölgeye yönelik uyguladığı yumuşak güç politikaları ile genişleyen bir ilişki ağına sahiptirler. Söz konusu ilişkilerin sınırlı seviyede olsa da SSCB öncesi dönemde derinlik kazanmaya başladığı görülmektedir. Ancak dönemsel olarak SSCB ve sonrası süreçte ilişkilerin seyri yavaşlasa da özellikle Hindistan’ın bölge devletleri ile bağının hiçbir zaman kesilmediği anlaşılmaktadır. Özellikle SSCB sonrası süreçte Hindistan bölge devletleri ile ilişkilerini diplomatik seviyede hızlandırmaya çalışmıştır. Bu durumun iki temel sebebi ise Hindistan ve Pakistan arasındaki Keşmir sorunu ve SSCB’nin dağılması sonrası değişen uluslararası sistemde Hindistan’ın yalnız kalmasıdır. Hindistan ve Orta Asya stratejik komşu olmakla birlikte doğal müttefiklik konumuna sahiptirler. Her iki taraf da coğrafi olarak birbirine çok yakın ve aynı zamanda ortak bir tarihin ve kültürel paylaşımın parçalarıdır. Ancak Orta Asya’nın büyük güçlerin rekabet alanına dönüşmesi ile Hindistan’ın da bölgeye yönelik politikalarının son on yıl içerisinde ulusal çıkarlar ve enerji talebi ile güvenliği temelinde değiştiği görülmektedir. Mevcut rekabete katılmaya çalışan Hindistan bölgede Çin ile enerji, Rusya ile bölgesel güvenlik, Pakistan ile Müslümanlar ve laiklik, ABD ile bölgede etkin güç olma gibi konularda zorluklarla karşı karşıyadır. Bölgeye diğer aktörlere nazaran geç intikal eden Hindistan’ın son on yılda bölge devletleri ile ilişkilerini arttırdığı, jeopolitik ve jeoekonomik çıkarları temelinde bir dış politika izlediği görülmektedir. Bu bağlamda çalışmanın amacı, Hindistan’ın enerji güvenliği ve artan enerji talebi ile jeopolitik ve jeoekonomik çıkarları bağlamında Orta Asya ile ilişkilerini, bölgelerarası transit nakil hatlar ve bölge üzerindeki çıkmazlarını analiz etmektir. Çalışmaya ilişkin analiz sonucunda Hindistan’ın enerji güvenliği adına Orta Asya bölgesini merkez üssü olarak belirlediği ancak ülke içindeki yetersiz nakil hatları, düşük seyirli ekonomik gelişim ve coğrafi açıdan bölgeye dolaylı ulaşımı gibi sebeplerle çevre ülkeler ve transit hatlar üzerinde bağımlılıkla karşı karşıya kaldığı görülmektedir. Bu durum da Hindistan’ın enerji maliyetini güvenlik ve ekonomik açıdan olumsuz etkilemektedir

Keywords

Hindistan, Orta Asya, Enerji Güvenliği, Enerji Talebi, Transit Hatlar

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