Turkey’s Energy Policy and the Prospects for EU–Turkey Cooperation

Speakers

• Pınar İpek, Associate Professor, TOBB Economics and Technology University
• Eser Özdil, Founder and Managing Director, Glocal Group Consulting, Investment & Trade
• Laurent Ruseckas, Executive Director, IHS Markit

Moderator 

• Kadri Tastan, GMF-TOBB Senior Fellow, The German Marshall Fund of the United States

Turkey has the highest growing rate of energy demand among the OECD countries. Consequently, Turkey's main energy policy priority is to secure its energy supply and meet the demand to sustain its economic growth as its population grows. Being a resource-poor country, energy security has always been one of Ankara's priorities, therefore, energy has been the key pillar of Turkey's conceptualization of its interests in this geographical area and policy vis-à-vis the countries of the region. Moreover, diversifying its supplies and becoming a regional energy corridor have been one of the main objectives of Turkey's energy agenda. It seems that Turkey’s gas imports shift away from Russia, toward U.S. lately. Strong mutual interest and Turkey’s geographical position in ensuring energy security in Europe, has also positioned energy to be an important agenda item in Turkey-EU relations. How is Turkish energy policy evolving? In this complicated political context, can the EU-Turkey energy relationship still be seen as one of the few components of the positive EU-Turkey agenda?

This discussion aims to examine the developments of Turkish energy policy and propose new strategies for Turkey-EU cooperation in the energy domain.

This online event is part of a series of events and analyses organized as part of the GMF-TOBB Fellowship on Turkey, Europe, and Global Issues launched by GMF in partnership with the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) in 2017.

If you have any questions, please contact Annika Vollmer at [email protected].