THE ELUSIVE PEACE by Crown Prince El Hassan Bin Talal

As I write these words two crises threaten to disrupt the already fragile state structure of the Middle East. The first crisis is the stalemate in negotiations between the Palestine National Authority and the government of Israel; the second crisis arises from the legacy of the Gulf War in 1991 which achieved its first goal and evicted.....

THE NEW LEGAL STATUS OF THE CASPIAN SEA IS BASIS OF REGIONAL CO-OPERATION AND STABILITY by Yolbars A. Kepbanov

History has evolved in such a way that the problem of the Caspian Sea, with its unique biological and geological characteristics, has become vital on the boundary of the twentieth century. And it is clear that changes in the geopolitical situation and the emergence...

IRAN AND CASPIAN BASIN OIL AND GAS by Patrick Clawson

Rich oil and gas reserves lie under and around the Caspian Sea, mostly oil in Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan, and gas in Turkmenistan. The proven reserves are about the same order of magnitude as around the North Sea: 16 billion barrels of oil and 8.3 billion cubic metres of gas, according to the US government. And the possible reserves are much greater: ........

THE IMPACT OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES ON SOCIETY by Orhan Güvenen

Over the past few decades, the world has been experiencing a phenomenon which has seen the proliferation of information at exponential rates. Thus, this era has been appropriately termed the ‘Information Age' and has been likened in its significance to the Industrial Revolution in terms of its impact on the entire modus operandi of the global system......

SECULAR TRENDS AND TURKISH IDENTITY by Bozkurt Güvenç 

Exploring "Beyond the Green Menace", Espesito (1994) presents a candid picture of contemporary Islam. "Political Islam" as a western attribution, however, is not a well defined concept in the Muslim ethos. For Islam --besides being a world civilisation comprising several cultures-- is politics par excellence.....

CONFIDENCE-BUILDING, CONFLICT PREVENTION AND ARMS CONTROL IN THE EURO-MEDITERRANEAN PARTNERSHIP by Roberto Aliboni

The setting up of a Euro-Mediterranean co-operative security regime is taking place between—and overlapping with—the OSCE's long-standing experience on the northern side of the Mediterranean....

ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF TURKEY'S CONTINUING SUPPORT FOR OPERATION NORTHERN WATCH by Sean Boyne

Some political elements in Turkey have been concerned in recent years about the use of the Turkish air base at _ncirlik by Western powers to enforce a ‘no fly' zone over the Kurdish region of Northern Iraq. The aim of the operation is to protect the Kurdish people of the region from the revenge of the Saddam Hussein regime, and to monitor Iraqi...

THE CLASH OF INTERESTS : AN EXPLANATION OF THE WORLD (DIS)ORDER by Ahmet Davutoglu

As the parameters of the Cold War era fade, a new link has been established between the political decision-making process of the power centres of the international system and political theories. This is reflected in the recent theses of Fukuyama's End of History1 and Huntington's “The Clash of Civilisations.”.....

POST-MODERNITY, MULTICULTURALISM AND EX-IMPERIAL HINTERLAND : HABSBURG AND OTTOMAN LEGACIES REVISITED by Ali Fuat Borovali

The end of the Cold War has brought in its wake a conceptual uncertainty as to which way the ‘world' ought to go. This always seems to happen, though in different modes, when a major war is terminated. The First World War had its Versailles and World War II had its Yalta and Potsdam, intimating the kind of order, rightful or not, to come......

NATO, OSCE AND REGIONAL SECURITY ISSUES IN CENTRAL ASIA AND THE CAUCASUS by Bruce George

The vast space stretching from the Caucasus to Central Asia is a region where the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has been very active. In 1996 the OSCE 'Troika' of foreign ministers paid a visit to all five Central Asian states. In September 1997, the OSCE chairman-in-office, the Danish foreign minister, Niels Helweg Petersen, came to Tashkent, Tbilisi and Dushanbe...

EUROPEAN INTEGRATION AND REGIONAL CO-OPERATION IN SOUTHEAST EUROPE by Ünal Çeviköz

Multilateral co-operation in Southeast Europe is not a new process. Despite the unfavourable conditions of the Cold War, Ministers of Foreign Affairs of six Balkan countries came together in Belgrade in February 1988. This was then considered to be a constructive attempt at regional co-operation......

STATEMENT BY THE TURKISH GOVERNMENT ON 14 DECEMBER 1997, CONCERNING THE PRECIDENCY CONCLUSIONS OF THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL HELD ON 12-13 DECEMBER 1997 IN LUXEMBO

Our government has studied the conclusions of the Luxembourg Summit which have been announced by the European Union presidency. In the course of this evaluation, the statements of the EU and member country officials concerning the summit meeting and its conclusions have also been taken into consideration......

STATEMENT BY THE TURKISH MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS ON 14 DECEMBER 1997, CONCERNING THE PRECIDENCY CONCLUSIONS OF THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL HELD ON 12-13 DECEMBER 1997 IN LUXEMBOURG

At the Luxembourg meeting of the Heads of State and Government of the member states of the European Union, held on 12-13 December 1997, a decision was taken to commence accession negotiations with “Cyprus” on the basis of the unilateral application of the Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus.....

DECISION ADOPTED BY THE STATES PARTIES TO THE CONVENTIONAL ARMED FORCES IN EUROPE TREATY (CFE) CONCERNING BASIC ELEMENTS FOR TREATY ADAPTATION - 23 JULY 1997 273rd Meeting JCG Journal, Agenda item 2 DECISION No. 8/97

1. In accordance with the Document agreed at Lisbon on 1 December 1996, defining the scope and parameters for the process commissioned in paragraph 19 of the Final Document of the First CFE Treaty Review Conference, the States Parties have agreed....