Turkey’s Rise as a Regional Power and its Role in the European Neighbourhood

Turkey has a growing strategic role in its overlapping neighbourhood with the EU.

Recent developments in the southern and eastern European neighbourhood have led to a new perception of the European Neighbourhood Policy. Turkey –on the one hand negotiating for EU membership, while, on the other, an important regional player in the common neighbourhood (the Caucasus and Mediterranean)– is increasingly being perceived as a crucial geopolitical partner for the EU. Turkey’s role in relation to the EU’s existing initiatives –such as the Union for the Mediterranean, the Eastern Partnership and the Black Sea Synergy– and its own Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform represents a challenge for the future shape of the European neighbourhood. This ARI outlines Turkey's relevance to a successful outcome of the EU’s initiatives, its role for political stability on the EU’s borders and the possibilities for cooperation or synergies between the Turkish and EU initiatives.