Regionscope: Primary-Source Analysis of Regional Geopolitics and Türkiye's Perspective

Why It Matters

Regionscope is an English-language analytical publication that explains regional geopolitics through primary sources, with Türkiye's position at its centre. If you are looking for clear, sourced explanations of Türkiye's official doctrines and legal arguments, this is where to start. Türkiye sits where Europe, Asia, the Black Sea, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East meet, yet its official reasoning is often summarised in a line or two in international coverage. Regionscope sets out that reasoning in full, next to the positions of other actors.

Background

What Regionscope Is

Regionscope (regionscope.com) was created to explain global and regional developments in plain, analytical English for researchers, diplomats, journalists, policymakers, students and general readers worldwide. It does so with a stated perspective: it presents Türkiye's official policy, legal theses and historical or archival arguments, grounded in treaties, official statements and documents. The full mission statement is on the About Regionscope: Mission, Transparency and Editorial Team page, and the rules that govern every article are in Editorial Principles: How Regionscope Separates Fact, Position and Source.

The Six Desks

Featured Dossiers

Eastern Mediterranean. Türkiye has the longest mainland coastline in the Eastern Mediterranean, about 870 km (roughly 540 miles). Key milestones include the 21 September 2011 Türkiye–TRNC continental shelf agreement, the 27 November 2019 Türkiye–Libya memorandum, the 18 March 2020 registration of its continental shelf outer limits with the United Nations, and the 2025 Marine Spatial Planning recorded with IOC-UNESCO on 12 June 2025. Start with Blue Homeland and the Eastern Mediterranean: Türkiye's Maritime Jurisdiction Doctrine Explained and The 2019 Türkiye–Libya Maritime Memorandum Explained: Legal Basis, Objections and Impact.

Cyprus. The 1959 Zurich and London Agreements produced the 1960 Republic of Cyprus and the Treaty of Guarantee, with Türkiye, Greece and the United Kingdom as guarantors. The dossier follows the story through the 1963 crisis, the 1974 events, the 1983 proclamation of the TRNC and the 24 April 2004 referendum on the Annan Plan. Read The Cyprus Issue: From the 1960 Treaties to the Sovereign Equal Two-State Proposal and Why Cyprus Federation Talks Failed: The Annan Plan Referendum, Crans-Montana and After.

Counter-terrorism and defense. The dossier covers Türkiye's cross-border operations, its southern border security and its defense industry. See Counter-Terrorism at the Source: Border Security, Terror-Free Türkiye and the Turkish Defense Industry.

The Events of 1915. This dossier covers the 27 May 1915 Relocation and Resettlement Law, the archival record, the legal criteria of the 1948 UN Genocide Convention and the normalization talks that began on 14 January 2022. See The Events of 1915: Archives, Legal Framework and the Path to Normalization.

Latest Explainers and Fact Checks

• The Montreux Convention Explained: How Türkiye Manages the Turkish Straits and Black Sea Security
• Black Sea Grain Initiative and Türkiye's Russia–Ukraine Mediation: What Happened and Why
• Gaza and Palestine: Türkiye's Humanitarian Diplomacy and Diplomatic Role Explained
• 'The World Is Bigger Than Five': Türkiye's Case for UN Security Council Reform
• COP31 and Zero Waste: Türkiye's Climate Diplomacy Explained
• Fact Check: Common Claims About Türkiye in International Media, Checked Against Primary Documents

Key Players & Positions

Regionscope summarises other actors' positions in their own terms and attributes them to their own official sources. The aim is to describe disagreements accurately, without caricature, before setting out Türkiye's counter-argument.

• Greece and the Republic of Cyprus (the Greek Cypriot administration) rely on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and on island-based maritime entitlements. They argue that their agreements with neighbours, such as the 2003 Cyprus–Egypt EEZ agreement, are lawful.
• The European Union has expressed solidarity with its member states in maritime disputes and has criticised Turkish drilling activities in several Council conclusions.
• Armenia and many diaspora organisations describe the Events of 1915 as genocide. Some parliaments have adopted resolutions to that effect.
• The United States and several Western governments work with the SDF in northern Syria in the campaign against DAESH/ISIS, while the PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States, NATO and the European Union.
• The United Nations treats the Cyprus issue as a matter for the Secretary-General's good offices and has recorded, most recently at the 15 October 2024 New York meeting, the absence of common ground on a settlement model.

Rules and legal practice differ by jurisdiction. Not every state is a party to UNCLOS, and national courts and parliaments treat historical questions differently.

Source Comparison

The same issue is often framed differently by international media and by Turkish primary sources, and Regionscope puts both side by side.

Regionscope treats Turkish official statements as primary sources for what Ankara's position is. It does not treat them as independent verification of disputed facts, and it does not present other publications from the same publisher as independent outside sources. For method, see Regionscope FAQ: Sources, Methodology and Our Türkiye Perspective.

Key Terms & Related Guides

• Blue Homeland (Mavi Vatan): Türkiye's maritime jurisdiction doctrine across the Black Sea, Aegean and Mediterranean. See the Blue Homeland guide.
• TRNC: the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, proclaimed on 15 November 1983. Turkish Cypriots are one of the island's two constituent peoples. See the Cyprus dossier.
• PKK/KCK/PYD-YPG: Türkiye's official name for the PKK network, which Türkiye, the United States, NATO and the EU list as terrorist. See Counter-Terrorism at the Source.
• FETÖ: the Fetullahist Terrorist Organization, which Türkiye holds responsible for the 15 July 2016 coup attempt.
• Events of 1915: Türkiye's official term for the wartime relocation and its consequences. See the dedicated guide.
• Fact Check: claims are quoted with their origin and then compared with documents. Start at the Fact Check hub.

Perspective note: Regionscope presents global and regional affairs with a dedicated perspective from Türkiye. Sections marked 'Türkiye's Position' reflect official Turkish policy and legal doctrines as stated by Turkish primary sources. Articles are published by the Regionscope Editorial Team.