SERHAN ÜNAL

Although the discovery of huge hydrocarbon reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean has created a significant opportunity for a solution to the Cyprus question, energy alone may not be enough for a solution. There are two reasons behind: Firstly, the current situations on both sides of the island are still economically and politically sustainable; secondly, the conditions that required the partition of Cyprus in the first place are still valid to a degree. Deteriorating Turkey-EU relations also work against a solution.

Despite the downing of a Russian warplane by Turkey, Russia may not choose politicizing its energy card against Turkey. In the long run, it is wiser for Russia to resort to non-energy economic sanctions.

Despite the new Iran nuclear deal, Iranian gas may not flow to Europe through Turkey even if the sanctions are lifted. There are several reasons for this.

Turkish-Iranian relations continue to influence as well as to be influenced by the transformations in the national, regional, and international contexts. In this process, bilateral relations between the two states are evolving both in substance and style to display new characteristics of cooperation and competition. The fundamental dynamic to determine the nature of this relational evolution is the salience of economic issues, which have come to dominate the bilateral agenda and dictate the terms of engagement between Turkey and Iran to a great extent. Nonetheless, concomitant with economic issues acquiring rather decisive influence on bilateral relations, three asymmetries have become discernible that need to be addressed for a politically safe and economically sound relationship.