A ‘bridge’ pushed to the periphery?: Turkey’s geopolitical significance in the Asia-Pacific century

This study scrutinizes the common wisdom concerning Turkey's crucial geopolitical significance and central physical location against the backdrop of four global transformations that are taking place in the twenty-first century. These tectonic shifts include China's rise and the ongoing Sino-US rivalry, trade routes and supply chains favoring the Asia-Pacific, technological changes brought by the fourth Industrial Revolution and finally, the decarbonization process. Based on an examination of these new dynamics, the article concludes that Turkey's geographical location and its traditional 'bridge' status between Asia and Europe no longer provides it the strategic leverage it had enjoyed in the twentieth century.