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Dr. Jake Sotiriadis (Lt Col, USAF) is Chief of Strategic Foresight and Futures Analytics at US Air Force Headquarters at the Pentagon in Washington, DC. His scholarly research focuses on networked ideologies in 21st century great power competition. He is a thought leader (and sought after speaker) on defense, intelligence, and diplomatic policy and his work has been featured in The Diplomat, Defense News, C4ISR Journal, and China-US Focus.
Ideology, and not just energy, explains Turkey's Mediterranean disruptions
Over the next few days, European Union leaders will meet to discuss potential sanctions against Turkey based on Ankara’s aggressive energy claims against EU members Greece and Cyprus. Conflicting interests within the EU itself will likely preclude the bloc from actually imposing sanctions. But at the core of the recent crisis between Greece and Turkey lies a dangerous ideological model—not a mere dispute over energy resources.
Turkey’s Dangerous New Exports: Pan-Islamist, Neo-Ottoman Visions and Regional Instability
There is certainly no shortage of writings on Turkey today regarding that country’s “drift” away from its Western orientation. Some who espouse this argument frame the consequences in terms of Turkey’s increased ties to China. While Turkey itself has launched an “Asia Anew” policy, the outsized focus on this and other alleged signs of Turkey’s “drift from the West” distracts from the very palpable effects of its adventurism in the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Mediterranean. Turkey’s increasingly reckless foreign policy is on full display — from weaponizing refugees to extort the European Union to exporting mercenary Jihadist fighters to Libya. These are hardly the actions of a responsible regional power, much less a key member of the NATO alliance.
