In its August 23rd print edition, The Economist magazine published an article, which echoes many of the same observations that were made in the July Bosphorus Watch piece entitled, "Turkey's Pipeline Politics: Russia, Iran, Greece, Italy".To view The Economist article, please click here.
The Economist posits that Prime Minister Erdogan's effort to cultivate greater energy ties with Iran will help his country's chances to join the European Union in the future. It believes that Turkey's heightened role as an energy transportation corridor will only increase its strategic value to the EU.
While these energy developments will certainly not hurt Turkey's bid to join the EU, it seems unlikely that they will represent a deciding factor in the EU's admission process as The Economist might be suggesting.
Simple economic and geographic realities dictate that Europe is by far the most important and logical market for any energy supplies flowing through Turkey. This will be the case whether or not Turkey is eventually offered the opportunity to join the EU.
It is therefore the opinion of this observer that that the EU would not gain any meaningful, strategic energy advantage by drafting Turkey into its ranks. The lack of formalized political ties between the Republic of Turkey and the EU will not influence the realities that govern Turkey's future energy transportation business with Europe.
1 comment:
Hey,
Interesting post and great blog. I am wondering whether you would care to contact me?
mpfvandergalienATgmailDOTcom
assistant editor of the moderate voice (http://www.themoderatevoice.com) and founder and editor-in-chief of the van der Galiën Gazette (http://mvdg.wordpress.com); editor books, section politics and monsters and critics (http://books.monstersandcritics.com) and new correspondent for Pajamas Media in the Netherlands (http://www.pajamasmedia.com). Contributed columns about Turksih politics to Turkish Daily News.
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