The Natural Gas Geopolitics of Turkey

This thesis investigates the natural gas geopolitics of Turkey and explores its interaction with the Turkish foreign policy making of the Justice and Development Party (JDP). Whilst Turkey does not have enough indigenous natural gas reserves to meet the existing and growing demand, the country does have great advantages, as it is located between the major supplier countries in the Middle East and Eurasia and is placed at the crossroads of an energy hungry European natural gas market. Therefore, the major aim of this research is to explore capacity building in the creation of relationships of interdependence between Turkey and supplier and demanding countries. Rather than introducing a dependency energy mechanism, this thesis offers the interaction capacity of the country with natural gas suppliers and consuming countries. In order to explain the relationship between politics and energy variables, the thesis establishes the theoretical framework of the study through the use of a pluralistic and integrated model, by combining International Relations Theories, the foreign policy making process of Turkey and a conceptualisation of the relations of energy interdependence. The descriptive analysis of Eurasia and the energy profile of Turkey provide detailed information about the existing energy trade and dependency relations in the Eurasian space. Hence, it explains the importance of Turkey in Europe’s diversification of energy corridors and Turkey’s natural gas market, which is considered to be the second biggest market in Europe. The significance and role of Turkey in the construction of pipeline projects (ITGI, TANAP, Nabucco, Nabucco-West and TAP) that go through Turkey to Europe, a route which is called the Southern Corridor, are analysed in the thesis. On the other hand, this thesis offers certain perspectives for the Caspian-Turkey-Europe natural gas corridor, focusing on Azerbaijan-Turkmenistan’s role in the natural gas trade for the energy security of Europe. Moreover, the natural gas potential of Iran, Iraq (including KRG), Qatar, Egypt and Israel, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan are viewed as major natural gas sources for Turkey and Europe in this thesis. Turkey has historical and economic ties with the Caspian Sea and Middle East regions, which hold immense natural gas reserves that can be marketed to Turkey and to the European Union (EU). Mapping Turkey’s energy relations with consuming and producing countries, and defining Turkey’s geopolitical space, will not only help to develop its energy policy to secure its own energy consumption but also to manage interdependence relations between Eurasia and Europe. This is a new conceptualisation of energy supply and transit management of Turkey in the context of a new model called the Anatolian Gas Centre (AGS)

Maintaining the energy security of Turkey in the era of geopolitical turmoil

The energy security of Turkey is very much interconnected with geopolitical developments due to its dependence on imported energy resources, especially on natural gas. Turkey, moreover, is a natural energy hub for Europe but its ability to provide the energy bridge between the Middle East and Caucasus hydrocarbons suppliers and European markets is being adversely affected by geopolitical tensions in the neighbouring region. The Russian intervention in Ukraine and the security and humanitarian crisis in Syria are just two highprofile instances of wider geopolitical developments which affect Turkey’s ability to meet its own rising growing needs as well as its ambition to act as Europe’s energy bridge. This paper argues that in order to meet its foreign policy goals in regard to energy not only does Turkey need to ensure the return of peace to neighbouring regions, but also should adjust its own domestic policies as the first step for being able to respond constructively to external developments

Immediate and six months clinical and angiographic results of intracoronary paclitaxel-coated stent implantation – the Meo:DrugStar-1 study

The study was conducted to evaluate the clinical and angiographic results of the implantation of the paclitaxel-eluting stent Meo:DrugStar ST in patients with symptomatic coronary artery disease. The Meo:DrugStar ST stent has a stainless steel stent platform with a homogenous non-biodegradable coating of paclitaxel mixed with a polyether-based biostable, monophase, and hemocompatible coating. Sixty patients with native coronary artery disease were included in the study. The Meo:DrugStar ST stents were implanted in 60 de novo lesions detected in these patients. Immediate and long-term clinical and angiographic follow-up results were evaluated. There was a high proportion of patients with hypertension (55%) according to JNC-VII. Mean stenosis ratio was 78 ± 13 %, mean implanted stent diameter was 3.0 ± 0.4 mm and mean length was 22 ± 5 mm. Restenosis was detected in 4 (10%) of those patients and 11 (27.5%) of 40 patients had insignificant amount of restenosis. The results of this study indicate a potential benefit of the Meo:DrugStar ST stent for the prevention of stent thrombosis and restenosis in these relatively high-risk patients

Dissection of the ascending thoracic aorta as a complication of percutaneous coronary intervention

Acute aortic dissection is a medical emergency with high morbidity and mortality requiring emergent diagnosis and therapy. A 79-year-old woman with acute aortic dissection due to percutaneous coronary intervention was presented. Aortic dissection is an uncommon but potentially lethal illness that can present in an occult manner making the initial diagnosis difficult. Aggressive medical management is mandatory, as well as urgent diagnostic testing and cardiothoracic consultation

Postcolonial Ghosts in New Turkish Cinema: A Deconstructive Politics of Memory in Dervis Zaim’s ‘The Cyprus Trilogy’

Postcolonial intercommunal violence on Cyprus and its after-effects have been studied extensively in the social sciences and humanities over the past five decades. However, the cinematic representations of the postcolonial condition in Cyprus have not yet received significant critical recognition. This dissertation is a response to the scarcity of scholarship on cinematic representations of the postcolonial history of the island. By analysing cinematically recreated and visualised ghostly matters of interethnic strife and post-conflict situation in Cyprus, I want to contribute to the current debates on the politics of postcolonial memory in Cyprus. My discussion focuses specifically on a film trilogy by the Turkish-Cypriot art house film director Dervis Zaim, ‘The Cyprus Trilogy’: Mud (Çamur, 2003), Parallel Trips (Paralel Yolculuklar/ Ta parállila monopátia [Τα παράλληλα μονοπάτια], codirected with Panicos Chrysanthou, 2004), and Shadows and Faces (Gölgeler ve Suretler, 2011). This trilogy is the most remarkable set of critical films about the partition of the island that have been produced in post-Yesilçam Turkish film history. My analysis of Zaim’s film trilogy departs from the assumption of the primacy of the phenomenological experiences of the postcolonial Cypriots over geopolitical and macro-historical explanations. The reading of Dervis Zaim’s works about the intercommunal civil wars in postcolonial Cyprus raises the question of the haunting/hauntedness. Therefore, this Ph.D. thesis addresses hauntological themes such as disjointed time, memory, historical justice, haunting, visor effect, voice, silence, ghost story, haunted house, haunted body, and the absent other that appear persistently in the films. Throughout this thesis, the spatial/temporal, vocal/narrative, and embodied/disembodied aspects of Zaim’s film trilogy are discussed, drawing primarily upon a Derridean hauntology. Building a theoretical bridge between hauntology and postcolonial cinema, the relationship between postcolonial memory, film, and haunting is examined in the context of Cyprus. This thesis concludes by discussing the extent to which Dervis Zaim and his spectral realist films have achieved the deconstruction of postcolonial memory through challenging both the imperialist and nationalist structures imposed by dominant discourses

Evaluation of pulmonary hydatid cyst cases

AbstractsBackgroundThe incidence of pulmonary hydatid cyst has been high in developing countries such as Turkey.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical presentation, treatment and outcomes of pulmonary hydatid cyst disease at a tertiary centre.MethodsA total of 138 patients, aged betwen 9 and 72 years with pulmonary hydatid cyst were diagnosed between 2000 and 2008 in 2nd thoracic surgery clinic at our hospital. Clinical characteristics of patients, epidemiological features, cyst diameters and localizations, laboratory findings, surgical approaches were recorded and analyzed.ResultsThe most frequent symptoms of pulmonary hydatid cyst were chest pain and cough (44.9%, 37.6%). According to cyst size, there was no difference between younger than twenty and older age groups (p>0.05). Twenty-two patients had complicated cyst cases. Most of them were symptomatic (90.9%). Association of complicated cyst with hepato-pulmonary involvement was significantly higher as compared with single hydatid cyst (p=0.01). Cystectomy was performed in 84.05% of patients and post-operative mortality was seen in only one patient due to pulmonary embolism.ConclusionAssociation of lung and liver hydatid cyst increased the risk of occurrence of a complicated pulmonary hydatid cyst. Choice of surgical approach had satisfactory results and post-operative mortality was low

Heart rate variability and heart rate turbulence in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Background: In chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients, functional and structural changes of the respiratory system greatly influence cardiovascular autonomic functions. Determining autonomic balance may be important in understanding the pathophysiology of COPD and useful clinically in the treatment of COPD patients. Heart rate variability (HRV) and heart rate turbulence (HRT) are useful tools in assessing the autonomic neurovegetative function. Our aim in this study was to evaluate the HRV and HRT variables in COPD patients. Twenty five moderate to severe COPD patients and 25 healthy subjects were included in this study. Methods: Pulmonary function tests and echocardiographic examination, arterial blood gases analysis were performed, HRV and HRT analysis were assessed from a 24-hour Holter recording. Results: When HRV and HRT parameters were compared, COPD patients had significantly decreased sNN50 total, pNN50, SDANN, SDNN, SDNNI, rMSDD in time domain HRV parameters, and the values of the HRT onset was significantly less negative in COPD patients. Although the values of the HRT slope were lower in COPD patients, there was no significant difference between the two groups. We also found a correlation between HRT and HRV parameters. Conclusions: In addition to HRV parameters, HRT onset was significantly different in COPD patients. In our opinion, the combination of HRV variables and HRT onset may be simple and elegant ways of evaluating cardiac autonomic functions. New investigations of HRT and HRV in COPD patients have a potential importance for improving risk stratification and therapeutic approaches, and understanding the autonomic outcomes of the disease process

Analyzing fragility of the advanced air mobility system and exploring antifragile networks

Future Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) is a concept that envisions to transform the current air transportation system into a more agile, flexible, and accessible system. Yet, the considered transformation and integrated system is not easy to achieve since it involves providing a high level of safety as well as efficiency. For that purpose, in this paper, we explored the fragility and antifragility concepts to analyze the AAM traffic network and provide an understanding of a system where it can benefit even under adverse conditions such as contingency events. For the analysis, first, a complex AAM traffic network is built via various AAM vehicles and possible vertiport locations that are analyzed for the Northern California area. After that, the AAM network is modeled via queue theory to simulate the considered flight plans, obtain the actual departure and arrival times under different conditions, and observe the delay propagation. Then, metrics from network theory based on targeted node and edge removals are studied to analyze the fragility of the AAM network and used for antifragility analysis. The methodology is used to analyze different disruptive cases over an AAM network such that disruptions at vertiports and over origin-destination pairs. Finally, an analysis of making the considered traffic antifragile through flight cancellations and its trade-off based on flight cancellation costs is provided

Comprehensive risk assessment and utilization for contingency management of future AAM system

This paper presents a risk assessment methodology to be used in the future Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) systems especially for supporting the planning phase and onboard contingency management solutions. Two types of dynamic risk maps are introduced as Contingency Risk Map that includes the probability of observing a contingency onboard and Risk Severity Map which covers various sources of data such as population density, a dense air traffic, obstacles, terrain, no-fly zones, and so forth. Contingency Risk Map is to quantify the probability of having a contingency and decide if the quantified probability is above the threshold. If the contingency risk probability is at unacceptable limit, Risk Severity Map assists to select a pre-defined secure emergency landing zone or non-secure emergency landing zone defined onboard. The developed risk assessment structure is tested through two different use cases. First one is about defining locations as vertiport alternatives based on the generated map, in case of a contingency ending up with an AAM vehicle to do emergency landing. Second case considers minimum risk onboard rerouting of an AAM vehicle to a secure/non-secure emergency landing zone under contingency management process. The main objective of this work is to build a system-wide contingency management concept for the AAM system by supporting with UTM services such as risk analysis assistance