Research Summaries

Back Turkey, Great Power Competition and the Maritime Domain

Fiscal Year 2020
Division Research & Sponsored Programs
Department NPS Naval Research Program
Investigator(s) Gingeras, Ryan
Sponsor NPS Naval Research Program (Navy)
Summary The principle objective of this project is to explore how the Turkish Navy perceives and is planning for its future within context of great power competition. It seeks to understand how and why Turkish civilian and military officials intend to play a more active, independent role in a number of locales: Cyprus, the Aegean, the Black Sea, Libya, the Persian Gulf and the Horn of Africa. In addition to an analysis of the country's current defense industry prerogatives, the study also seeks to look at Turkey's collaborative relationship with Russia.

The core questions of the project are:

What are the drivers and interests that lie behind Turkish aspirations for a larger "blue water" navy? 
What are the current and future prospects for Turkish naval operations? How may they align or not align with American security interests? 
To what extent do Turkish interests align with Russia? How do Turkish foreign policymakers see the growth of Russian influence in the Black and Mediterranean Seas?
How has the modernization and expansion of the Turkish fleet furthered, or failed to meet, the rising aspirations of Turkish policymakers?

The bulk of the research will be based upon Turkish language sources. In addition to engaging the expanding number of analytical studies on Turkish foreign policy, this study will rely heavily upon largely untapped official publications from the Turkish navy and defense industry. Research will also include engaging subject matter experts and former officials in informal discussions on a variety of topics. 
The deliverable will be a final written report and potential briefings to the sponsor and other potential stakeholders.
Keywords
Publications Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal
Data Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal