Abstract
GEOECONOMIC STRUGGLE IN CASPIAN BASIN AND STATE POLICIES IN THE REGION
Energy is an important and indispensable input for industrial manufacturing, sustainable development initiatives, increasing the welfare of society and sustaining their daily life. Rapid increase in energy demand has put the oil and natural gas resources in a strategic position. Caspian Basin is considered to be the second richest energy resource region in the world after the Middle East. The region, with its rich oil and gas resources and underground treasures has a geopolitical importance for regional powers, over which they struggle for prestige and power.
In the first part of the study, the geopolitical and geostrategic importance of the Caucasus and Central Asia, which also includes the Caspian basin, is explained in detail. In the second part, oil and gas reserves, production and consumption rates of the Caspian basin countries are evaluated in comparison to each other. In the third part, the energy policies of the world and regional countries about the Caspian Basin are emphasized.
Although the production and consumption rates of oil and gas reserves in the Caspian Basin fluctuate by years, the importance of the region increases each passing day. Therefore, the USA, Russia, China, Iran, Turkey and the EU countries develop policies on the regional states in order to become politically and economically more active in the Caspian. In this sense, the continuation of political and economic stability of the Turkic countries in the Caspian Basin and their cooperation with Turkey in order to become a regional power will be advantageous for almost all of these countries.
Keywords
Caspian Basin, energy, energy geopolitics, geoeconomic struggle.