Today I would like to talk about Turkey in the foreign policy of the EU. I am not going to talk about the European approach to Turkey as it is already well known – especially here in Europe; but I will talk about the position of Turkey in its region, and from the Turkish point of view.

Turkey today is perceived as one of the region’s most sucessful countries. Although it is improving its relations with the east, such as Iran, Russia, Iraq, Syria; its relations with the EU is getting closer to a deadlock.

In my speech, I would like to focus on the new Turkish foreign policy focusing on Turkey’s complicated position as a “bridge” or as a “buffer” between the East and West, namely between the European Union and the Middle East.

• January 29, 2011

Main Discussion Points

• The Basics of the Gulf Gas Sector


• The Basis of EU Diversification (The Context)


• Qatari Expansion into Eastern and Central Europ


• Future Challenges

• January 29, 2011

Issue 2: January 2011

A Snapshot Of Key Developments In The External Relations Of The Russian Gas Sector

According to export plans for 2011 revealed by Aleksei Miller, Gazprom will export more gas than in 2010, but still less than during the pre-crisis period. Gazprom plans to enter the Portuguese and Spanish markets, having arranged deliveries of gas from Africa. READ MORE

• January 29, 2011

Cash shortages and uncertainty over energy prices are delaying or cutting back nuclear power projects across Central and South-Eastern Europe, threatening energy supply and a push to abandon polluting coal.

• January 28, 2011

Last year was Japan Year in Turkey, and the occasion for it was the 120th anniversary of a sad event in the history of the Ottoman Empire. Today, Turkish-Japanese relations are moving closer to their true potential. These two countries, located at the western and eastern ends of Asia, are poised to form a strong partnership over the next decade.

• January 28, 2011

Global powers seeking to ensure Iran does not develop nuclear weapons are still hoping for a response from Tehran to a fuel swap proposal seen as a step towards ending the persistent standoff, Russia said

• January 28, 2011

The Turkish Petroleum International Company Ltd. (TPIC), an affiliate of the state-run Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO), is holding talks with Kyrgyz government officials to supply the jet fuel needed by American corps based in the country, the company’s president, Mithat Cansız, has said.

• January 28, 2011

The nuclear power plant project in Lithuania, to replace the former plant at Ignalina, is “doomed,” former vice-president at Latvia’s power utility company Latvenergo, Aigars Melko, said in an interview with the business magazine Lietiska Diena, reports news agency LETA. “I believe that the nuclear power plant project in Kaliningrad has doomed the proposed Baltic power plant project in Lithuania.

• January 27, 2011