DR Selin Calik

UK's new gas saviour during supply crunch is Qatar After gas shortages in the UK have led to soaring high prices, Qatar eyes an opportunity to strengthen ties with the UK in terms of gas supply. It is clear that Qatar sees Brexit as a chance to develop huge gas investments in the UK. The Gulf state already has $50 billion of investments in Britain and delivers 90 per cent of Britain's imports of liquefied natural gas, according to Qatar's Ministry of Energy. According to a report published by  Financial Times , last month, Downing Street initiated LNG diplomacy talks with their Qatari counterparts on diverting four energy tankers to Britain. Undeniably, Qatar, as the world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, pursues highly extensive LNG diplomacy in the region. It is clear that Qatar invests in the UK with launching LNG terminals being the majority owner of South Hook LNG terminal in Wales while the UK's energy and services company  Centrica has a long-term...

                                                          London, February In 1918, the Spanish flu pandemic killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide. The current coronavirus epidemic, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year, has so far infected around 80,000 people and killed more than 2,700, most of them in China. Can we expect to see this epidemic become a pandemic? Fears are now gripping the Middle East that this might well be the case. The region is in flux, with the constant circulation of pilgrims and merchants, traders and workers who might carry the virus. Ongoing wars, occupation and unrest have shattered the health systems of several countries, such as Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen, as well as occupied Palestine. Hence, serious consideration should be given to a united approach to tackli...

The preservation of Turkey’s energy rights is key  to maritime stability in the eastern Mediterranean          By Elif Selin Calik In collaboration with major industrial countries like the US and France, several Mediterranean countries have discovered oil and gas resources under the sea bed. The aim of these countries is twofold: to achieve energy self-sufficiency, and to sell any surplus on the open market. According to the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea  (UNCLOS),  coastal states such as Egypt, Turkey, Israel and the Palestinian Authority (Gaza Strip), Lebanon, Syria, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the Greek Cypriot Authority have rights to the resources in the area according to their respective Exclusive Economic Zones. In January, Greek Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Palestine and Egypt held a meeting in Cairo to announce the establishment of the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum to cooperate in the product...