The conflict between Turkey and Greece in East Meditarrenean

The thesis aims to explain the reason for the rising tension between Turkey and Greece in the East Mediterranean in recent years. In this direction, firstly, the gap in the literature was revealed and the power vacuum thesis was put forward in order to fill this gap. Then, the current change in the international system is explained from the offensive realist perspective. Finally, the historical conflict between Turkey and Greece in the East Mediterranean is analyzed in the context of the power vacuum in the international system. The East Mediterranean, which has a great strategic and geopolitical importance throughout history has entered into a new transformation process with problems such as the Arab Spring, the Syrian civil war and the discovery of new energy sources. This transformation, which covers many areas such as energy, economy, ideology and security, also causes problems in the relations between regional powers. One of the most important examples of this is the high tension between Turkey and Greece arising from the sovereignty issues regarding the maritime jurisdiction areas. In addition, the power shift caused by the rise of Russia and China against the US in the international system also showed its effect in the Eastern Mediterranean, and the US lost its hegemon position in the region since the 1980s. The main argument of this study is that the instability in the international system leads to a power vacuum in the East Mediterranean, while the power vacuum increases the instability in the region and triggers the conflict environment between Turkey and Greece. Keywords: East Mediterranean, Greece, International System, Power Vacuum, Turkey