By Micha’el Tanchum (vol. 7, no. 13 of the Turkey Analyst)

Turkey’s partnership with Azerbaijan in constructing the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline as well as Azerbaijan’s construction of a new oil refinery and container port on Turkey’s Aegean Coast is raising the level of Turkey’s economic partnership with Azerbaijan in the energy and transportation sectors to an unprecedented strategic level.  This cooperation advanced further with new investment agreements concluded in late May and early June 2014.  The deepening of the Turkey-Azerbaijan partnership is creating the framework for the emergence of wider Caspian-Anatolian regional cooperation.

By Richard Weitz (vol. 7, no. 13 of the Turkey Analyst)

The Turkish government has recently been seeking to improve its ties with Iran. Even when bilateral relations were most tense, as in 2012 and 2013, Turkey and Iran declined to break relations comprehensively. They continued to pursue robust economic exchanges while compartmentalizing their regional security differences. The past year has seen decreasing differences between Ankara and Tehran over Iran’s nuclear program. The declining prospects of Ankara’s anti-Iranian allies in Syria and the advent of an unexpectedly virulent militant Sunni insurgency in Iraq also contribute to creating a new regional dynamic. The Turkish-Iranian relationship is multi-faceted and although recent developments may have brought the two countries closer again, their relation is set to remain beset by complications and contradictions.

By Gareth Jenkins (vol. 7, no. 12 of the Turkey Analyst)

On June 18, 2014, the Turkish Constitutional Court ordered a retrial in the infamous Balyoz, or “Sledgehammer”, case in which 237 serving and retired military personnel were convicted of plotting to stage a coup to overthrow the government of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). The retrial appears likely to result in the acquittal of the accused. However, the timing of the Constitutional Court’s decision has done little to allay concerns about the politicization of the Turkish judicial system.