Üsküdar Üniversitesi Department of Political Science and International Relations hosted an event titled “Turkey’s Maritime Geopolitics in the 21st Century”. Retired Admiral Cem Gürdeniz was the guest of the event, moderated by Prof. Dr. Havva Kök Arslan, Head of the English Department of Political Science and International Relations. Gürdeniz stated that Turkey's maritime geopolitics has three centers of gravity: the Turkish Straits, our Blue Homeland, and TRNC.
“Turkey's maritime geopolitics has 3 centers of gravity”
Addressing the issue of Turkish Geopolitics in the Eastern Mediterranean, Gürdeniz said; “Turkey's maritime geopolitics has three centers of gravity. That is, regardless of the circumstances, we must always keep in mind the Turkish Straits, which, in my opinion, are the jewel of Turkey's geography, the greatest diamond of our geopolitical value. The other is our Blue Homeland. The other one among Turkey's maritime jurisdiction areas is, of course, TRNC. It is the formation that puts an end to the encirclement of Turkey's Anatolian peninsula from the south. Now, when we look at it, in addition to these three very valuable goals, we also see that the region is in geopolitical interactions.”.
Why is Turkey important in this region?
Gürdeniz stated that Turkey is a part of the rimland, saying; “We have a geography heavily influenced by rimland geopolitics. Because Turkey has been a part of the rimland with the Truman Doctrine since 1945. Turkey carried out its duty here with Atlantic loyalty from 1945 until the FETÖ coup attempt on July 15, 2016. This was very valuable for the US and NATO. Because it was very important for the encirclement of Russia, and the encirclement of the leg of China's One Belt, One Road project that passes through Turkey. Considering that Turkey is the most critical country, meaning 65 percent of Russia's foreign trade passes through the Turkish Straits, everything was done to keep Turkey in this region. Because the loss of Turkey, like the loss of Iran in '79 and China's loss in Rimland after '90, was very significant for the US and the Atlantic system. Anyone studying the Eastern Mediterranean or Turkey's maritime geopolitics must first understand this geopolitical thesis very well.”.
“If Israel were in the south of Africa, we wouldn't be affected this much”
Retired Admiral Cem Gürdeniz said; “Israel being in the Eastern Mediterranean changes everything. If Israel were a country in the south of Africa instead of there, we wouldn't be affected this much, but Israel's creation of its own security zone amidst the developments in the Eastern Mediterranean and the reasons why its geopolitics passes through Cyprus and the coastal states in the Eastern Mediterranean also affect us greatly. We need to pay attention to this as well.”.
“The US wants to break the gas monopoly”
Cem Gürdeniz, stating that Russia's natural gas being used in European countries disturbs the US, said; “Currently, the biggest concern of the Atlantic system is Europe's significant dependence on Russian natural gas. It is trying to squeeze it in the rimland. It provides energy for those trying to squeeze the same country and makes money. Of course, the US cannot tolerate this. Therefore, the US wants to break the gas monopoly. We see that the enormous size of the Eastern Mediterranean has emerged there due to its gas potential.”.