41. Useful enemies: How the Turkey-UAE rivalry is remaking the Middle East
- Author:
- Asli Aydıntaşbaş and Cinzia Bianco
- Publication Date:
- 03-2021
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR)
- Abstract:
- Turkey and the United Arab Emirates are engaged in a decade-long feud that is reshuffling the geopolitical order in the Middle East and North Africa. They see each other as existential rivals and are waging a series of proxy wars between the Horn of Africa and the eastern Mediterranean. Their rivalry also plays out in the halls of Washington and Brussels, the global media discourse, the energy industry, and, lately, ports and the high seas. Europe should avoid being sucked into this power struggle to redefine the Middle East and North Africa. Instead of using the UAE to push back against Turkey or vice versa, Europe should develop its own strategy on their rivalry. Europe should establish a NATO deconfliction mechanism, push ahead with the political process in Libya, and design a constructive new framework to insulate European-Turkey relations from the rivalry.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Foreign Policy, Power Politics, Geopolitics, Strategic Competition, and Rivalry
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Turkey, Middle East, and United Arab Emirates