Al -Jazeera for Studies concludes the conference “Competition between Great Powers and the Middle East” | news
In light of accelerated transformations witnessed by the international system, and the increasing intensity of competition between the major powers for influence and resources, the Turkish University of Bogazigi hosted on June 16 and 17 this year a high -level international conference entitled “Competition between the Great Powers and the Middle East … re -drawing trade routes and networks.”
The conference came with a joint organization with the Al -Jazeera Center for Studies, with the participation of academic institutions from China, Turkey and Europe, and in the presence of a group of researchers and experts.
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The conference discussed the geopolitical and economic dimensions of global connection and infrastructure projects, foremost of which is the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative, the Indian-Middle East-European Economic Corridor, and the development road project between Iraq and Turkey, as well as the European Infrastructure Initiative, with a special focus on the Middle East site within these initiatives as a strategic intersection area in reshaping trade networks and international alliances.
The nature of the international conflict
In his opening speech, the Director of the Al -Jazeera Center for Studies, Dr. Muhammad Al -Mukhtar Al -Khalil, presented an in -depth strategic reading of the nature of the current competition, stressing that the great powers are not only wrestling with “re -drawing the maps”, but also seeks to build renewable interests and alternative paths of trade methods in which the map of future influence. He considered that the new world order cannot be born without dismantling the remainder of the old, and that what is happening in the Gaza Strip and Iran is only a living manifestation of this transformation.
Hebron saw that the competition in the region embodies a confrontation between 3 blocs: emerging powers, retrospected forces, and conflict forces of independence, and that this conference seeks to formulate a collective understanding of these transformations in a way that enables researchers and decision makers to anticipate the scenarios of repeated crises in the Middle East.
For his part, Wu Shimming, Vice President of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, stressed the strategic importance of the Middle East within the Belt and Road Initiative, and considered that China seeks to build relations based on understanding and integration in the fields of renewable energy, communications and cultural exchange, and not to dominate or polarize. He also stressed Beijing’s commitment to enhancing international cooperation and supporting stability in the region away from chaos or fragmentation strategies.
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The fragility of the international system
From Türkiye, the director of foreign policy studies at the “Sita” Foundation, Murad Yzlatash, considered that the war on Iran is not just a transient development, but rather a detailed event that reflects the reshaping of international relations and the transformations of the balance of power.
He also warned of the failure of the international system and its international institutions in dealing with the crises of the Middle East due to the absence of unified value references and structural contradictions in international organizations.
In his speech, Seljuk Aydin, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Economics at the University of Boughaziji, said that the ongoing events in more than one place, from the war on Gaza, to escalation in Ukraine, through the escalating tension among Western powers, reveal a deep fragility in the economic and social structure of the international system, and indicates an increasing defect in its ability to respond to the accumulated crises.
He considered that the supply chains and commercial corridors are no longer just logistical paths, but rather turned into tools for geopolitical competition and strategic polarization, calling for a comprehensive review of the prevailing concepts about global economic security in light of the increasing overlapping of the economy with military and political balances.
The most prominent deliberations of the first day:
The disintegration of the international system, the conflict of interests, and technology transformations
The first day of the conference discussed manifestations of the disintegration of the current international system; Where the interventions stressed that the ongoing events, especially in Gaza, revealed a deep fragility in the global economic and social structure, in light of the growing tensions and the increasing dependence on supply chains and international corridors as areas of geopolitical competition.
In this context, a sharp escalation in strategic competitiveness between Western powers and the Middle East was monitored. It was not absolutely noted by the weakness of the international legal system in the absence of actual accountability of military violations, especially in the Palestinian context.
Discussions also stopped when transformations in the Turkish regional role; Where the perceptions that link the Turkish presence in some files and the “Ottoman nostalgia”, in exchange for emphasizing the role of Ankara, the mediator and balance based on self -confidence and the pursuit of calm.
In the technological field, approaches have been proposed confirming that the global conflict has been centered on digital domination and technological excellence, not only about military expansion, with warnings that the United States is seeking to surround the rise of other powers such as China and Turkey by controlling the digital field and security alliances.
The deliberations of the first day constituted an analytical framework for the vision of regional and international powers for the future of the world order in light of a world in which the indicators of rupture are increasing more than the features of stability.
The most prominent deliberations of the second day
Middle East .. Antarctic PDF Laboratory
The second day of the conference was an occasion to expand the discussion on the Middle East site within a global system that takes fragmentation and re -formation; Where the world is no longer condemned to the dual war of the Cold War, nor with the stability of the only pole, but rather has become an arena of reactions between emerging and declining forces, and flexible alliances changed according to interests and circumstances.
In this context, the sessions discussed by elaborate the possibilities that the countries of the region adopt their own integral initiatives away from the dependence of the transit projects from abroad, and profound questions about whether the Middle East was able, in light of its complex political reality, to formulate an independent regional integration agenda.
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The interventions dealt with the role of regional organizations such as the League of Arab States, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Gulf Cooperation Council, and the Organization of Turkish States, as possible platforms to activate this role, but the majority of the participants recognized that the absence of a unified vision, political divisions and internal conflicts still constitute a real obstacle to building joint commercial and economic paths that start from within the region itself and respond to the priorities of their peoples.
The sessions also reviewed the political and logistical challenges facing these initiatives, including the lack of cross -border infrastructure, suspicion between adjacent countries, and the overlapping of security agendas with economic projects, which makes the idea of ”independent regional integration” a difficult, if not impossible.
The conference highlighted the exclusion of Türkiye from the Indian-Middle East-European Economic Corridor Initiative, considering this an indication of the new geopolitical alignments that reshape the influence and interest network in the region.
Research outputs
The conference concluded its work by announcing a group of research outputs that seek to translate theoretical discussions into employment and policy tools. These outputs included the preparation of an editorial collective book documenting the most prominent papers of the conference, in cooperation with the Al -Jazeera Center for Studies and an International Publishing House, in addition to issuing policies based on analyzes and readings that were presented during the sessions.
The approach was also emphasized towards organizing subsequent research activities, including specialized conferences, workshops and consultative meetings, with the aim of deepening the discussion in the issues dealt with by the conference, and expanding their scope within the research and policy -making circles.
