Pending Challenges in Turkey's Judiciary

Executive Summary

This policy brief examines Turkey’s strategic goal of becoming a regional energy leader and evaluates the effectiveness of its current energy strategy. A strategy is understood as a framework that connects policy instruments with political objectives, while a strategic vision brings together individual goals under a broader ambition. According to Turkey’s Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources’ Strategic Plan for 2010–2014, the country’s central energy vision is to become “the leader in its region” in energy affairs.

The report argues that although regional energy leadership is at the core of Turkey’s energy strategy, the concept lacks both a clear definition and sufficient empirical analysis. Addressing this gap is essential for understanding Turkey’s energy policy, assessing its performance, and evaluating whether the instruments chosen to achieve leadership are effective.

A key focus of the study is the relationship between becoming an energy hub and achieving regional energy leadership. While Turkey’s Strategic Plan emphasizes transforming the country into an energy hub as a primary means of reaching leadership status, the report questions whether these two objectives are necessarily connected. If an energy hub does not automatically translate into political leadership, Turkey’s current strategy may prove ineffective.

The analysis evaluates Turkey’s leadership performance in the Southern Corridor and examines future options for its energy strategy. It concludes that Turkey has so far failed to establish itself as a true regional energy leader. Furthermore, the development of the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) is expected to reshape regional energy interdependence and may reduce opportunities for Turkey to exercise future leadership.

The policy brief concludes that Turkey must fundamentally reconsider its energy strategy if it aims to achieve regional energy leadership. Becoming an energy hub alone is insufficient; a broader and more comprehensive approach is required to transform energy infrastructure into lasting geopolitical influence.