Energy security makes its way into ‘secret constitution'

The National Security Policy Document, sometimes referred to as Turkey's secret constitution because of the dominant role it plays in determining domestic and external security priorities, is revised every five years to reflect changing internal and global circumstances. The latest revision, the first one conducted by civilians in Turkey's history, is expected to be finalized in the next meeting of the National Security Council (MGK) in October.

According to the document, whose revision is expected to take effect in the coming months, Turkey now considers the security of energy lines and corridors to be strictly associated with world security, a conviction that is expected to further increase security and intelligence cooperation with energy supplier Russia.

Sources close to the issue also say Turkey’s neighbors, traditionally viewed as threats to Turkey’s national security, are to be removed from the list national threats. Russia is one of these neighbors; it was considered a hostile nation during the Cold War years and then seen as a security threat because of its support for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Cooperation with Russia was hindered amid Turkish misgivings towards Moscow stemming from the fact that the majority of weapons the PKK used in its attacks on Turkish targets originated from Russia.

But the two countries have moved from rivalry to cooperation in recent years, with trade ties expanding, energy cooperation gaining a strategic dimension and diplomatic contact becoming more and more frequent. Cooperation with Russian intelligence, seen as hostile not long ago, is also developing. According to sources, Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) are working closely on ensuring the security of energy transportation lines and focusing on tensions in the region that could pose a threat to energy security.

As part of expanding cooperation in the field of energy, Turkey has granted Russia’s state-run natural gas monopoly, Gazprom, use of its territorial waters in the Black Sea, where Moscow wants to route its South Stream pipeline to deliver gas to eastern and southern Europe. In exchange, Gazprom has agreed to build a pipeline across Turkey from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. Both deals appear to have advanced Turkey’s goal of becoming an energy hub.

The revised National Security Policy Document states that Turkey has become an important energy route given its location next to gas and energy reserves in Russia, the Caspian region, Iran and Iraq. The government believes that political developments and tensions in Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Bulgaria and Greece should be closely followed so as to ensure security of energy reserves and transportation lines, a sign that Turkey will continue to have an active foreign policy and expand its influence in the region.

PKK a threat for energy pipelines

The document describes protecting and solidifying Turkey’s status as an energy hub as a priority and focuses on elements that threaten to undermine that status. The revised document notes that the Kirkuk-Yumurtalık pipeline, transporting oil from the north of Iraq to Turkey’s Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, now operates on a daily capacity of 300,000 barrels, even though the pipeline is capable of carrying 16 million barrels a day, because of security issues. The PKK frequently carries out attacks on the pipeline, and policymakers fear the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, running from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz fields to Ceyhan, could also be targeted.

The new document states that Turkey should work together not only with Russia but also with the United States for long-term plans to ensure energy security because any disagreement between Russia and the United States in regard to the energy lines transiting Turkish territory would constitute a risk for the entire region.

Ensuring the security of energy lines is expected to help Turkey’s troubled efforts to join the European Union as well. According to the revised National Security Policy Document, up to 70 percent of oil and gas supplies for Europe could be transiting Turkish territory in the next decade.

Nuclear energy

Nuclear energy has also found its place in the revised document, according to sources. Turkey, which lacks its own oil and gas reserves, signed a $20 billion deal with Russia in May to build a nuclear power plant with four reactors.

The new document assesses that a nuclear power plant agreement signed with Russia will draw the two countries closer together and defends the acquisition of nuclear energy, saying it is natural for any country that faces an energy shortage to seek nuclear capacity. In an indirect reference to the nuclear program of neighboring Iran, which the West suspects is aimed at developing nuclear weapons, the document affirms that the Middle East should be free of nuclear weapons. It also underlines that Turkey’s nuclear aspirations are strictly limited to the peaceful purpose of meeting increasing electricity demands.

Iran, like other neighbors of Turkey, is no longer included in a list of countries considered a threat by Ankara in the new document, in contrast to the previous version of the document which labeled Tehran a threat because of the religious nature of its regime and its nuclear program. But the new document maintains that nuclear weapons could be a threat for the entire Middle East.