From Distant Neighbors to Partners? Changing Syrian-Turkish Relations

Altunışık, Meliha Benli; Tür, Özlem

doi:10.1177/0967010606066172

Cited by 61 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Other issues have also made Syria and Turkey "distant neighbours" for decades (Altunisik 2006). First, the historical legacy inherited from the late Ottoman Empire period, informed mutual identities.…”

Section: Untangling the Political Context Of Transboundary Water Relamentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydropolitics and issue-linkage along the Orontes River Basin: an analysis of the Lebanon–Syria and Syria–Turkey hydropolitical relations

Conker

Hussein

2019

Int Environ Agreements

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The Orontes River Basin is among the least researched transboundary water basins in the Middle East. The few studies on the Orontes have two main theoretical and empirical shortcomings. First, there is a lack of critical hydropolitics studies on this river. Second, those studies focus on either the Turkish-Syrian or Lebanese-Syria relations rather than analysing the case in a holistic way. Gathering both primary (international agreements, government documents, political statements and media outlets) and secondary sources, this paper seeks to answer how could Syria, as the basin hydro-hegemon, impose its control on the basin? This study argues that the lack of trilateral initiatives, which is also reflected in academic studies, is primarily due to asymmetrical power dynamics. Accordingly, Syria played a dual-game by excluding each riparian, Turkey and Lebanon, and it dealt with the issue at the bilateral interaction. Syria has used its political influence to maintain water control vis-à-vis Lebanon, while it has used non-cooperation with Turkey to exclude Turkey from decision-making processes. The paper also argues that the historical background and the political context have strongly informed Syria's water policy. Finally, given the recent regional political developments, the paper finds that Syria's power grip on the Orontes Basin slowly fades away because of the changes in the broader political context.

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Section: Untangling the Political Context Of Transboundary Water Relamentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydropolitics and issue-linkage along the Orontes River Basin: an analysis of the Lebanon–Syria and Syria–Turkey hydropolitical relations

Conker

Hussein

2019

Int Environ Agreements

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“…After a coalition government led by the RP came to power in 1996, the TSK took control of foreign policy and pushed for greater strategic cooperation with Israel over the objections of Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan. Once the power of the TSK declined with the EU‐induced democratization and the rise of the AKP, Turkey's relations with its neighbors including Syria and Iran improved (Altunışık and Tür ). Despite its value, this perspective on Turkish foreign policy tends to underestimate how security concerns, especially related to the Kurdish insurgency, remain central to Turkey and the persistence of authoritarian practices after an initial period of reform during the AKP years (Tezcür :172–6).…”

Section: Changing Patterns Of Turkish Foreign Policy Since 1980mentioning

confidence: 99%

Activism in Turkish Foreign Policy: Balancing European and Regional Interests

Tezcür

Grigorescu

2013

Int Stud Perspect

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This article argues that long‐term changes in Turkish foreign policy are primarily due to the diversification of the country's political and economic interests. Important international structural shifts such as the end of the Cold War or the broad fluctuations in oil prices have constituted the initial impetus for the changes that we have seen in Turkish policies. Discussing alternative perspectives on new activism in Turkish foreign policy, the article gauges Turkey's foreign policy affinity (based on voting patterns in the United Nations General Assembly) and trade with other states to place recent trends in the broader context of the past three decades. It shows that, as the “West” has become less coherent in its policies, Turkey has moved closer to EU members and distanced itself from the US. The data also undermine “shift of axis” arguments as Turkey's foreign policy affinity with Middle Eastern countries has, in fact, declined. The trade data reveal a diversification of the country's commercial interests that contribute to Turkey's increasing regional activism. The country now balances its long term European interests with its recent regional ones.

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“…12 Syria, for its part, was suspicious of Turkey's close links with Muslim Brotherhood leaders who had escaped from Syria in the 1980s. 13 In 1987, Turkish Prime Minister Turgut Özal visited Syria, insisting that it cease supporting the PKK. Syria demanded that a treaty be signed with respect to the sharing of the waters of the Euphrates.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Syria and Turkey: Border‐Security Priorities

Öztığ

2019

Middle East Policy

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From Distant Neighbors to Partners? Changing Syrian-Turkish Relations

Cited by 61 publications

References 10 publications

Hydropolitics and issue-linkage along the Orontes River Basin: an analysis of the Lebanon–Syria and Syria–Turkey hydropolitical relations

Hydropolitics and issue-linkage along the Orontes River Basin: an analysis of the Lebanon–Syria and Syria–Turkey hydropolitical relations

Activism in Turkish Foreign Policy: Balancing European and Regional Interests

Syria and Turkey: Border‐Security Priorities

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