There is little doubt that climate change is to remain one of the top issues on the world agenda. As greenhouse gas emissions increase and global warming speeds up, climate change becomes more tangible and its risks turn more devastating. In recent years, almost every single corner of the world has experienced extreme weather changes. This urges politicians and decision-makers to take concrete action to tackle climate change. The Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) shows that the world’s overall temperature has already risen 1.5^oC degrees. Today, we cannot unring the bell, but we can slow down global warming.

The Climate Crisis

The release of high amounts of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide into the atmosphere increases the air, water, and land temperatures, and causes global warming. Climate change, on the other hand, refers to the increase in temperature caused by global warming, as well as melting glaciers, changing water levels in the oceans and seas, heavy and irregular precipitation, storms, and drought. Today, most of the emissions-caused global warming is due to human actions, while the effect of natural processes is quite limited.

The Industrial Revolution jumpstarted the processes that have caused climate change. When Western countries changed their production processes, extensive use of fossil energy resources – mainly coal – occurred and human-caused greenhouse gas emissions began to rise. The amount of carbon dioxide emissions, which were close to 1 billion tons in the 1850s reached 35 billion tons in 2019. Due to high emissions, the temperature is also increasing, and the risks arising from climate change are becoming more threatening. (Graph 1)

Source: World Meteorological Organization

Increasing poverty, food insecurity, health problems, water scarcity, infrastructure damage, inequalities, destruction of ecosystems, and decrease in biodiversity led by climate change are increasingly affecting human life today. Moreover, abnormal cold and heat waves, heavy rainfall, storms and tornadoes, forest fires, and floods are becoming more frequent and affect living conditions. Preventing these risks and threats depends on slowing down global warming. Although the current situation needs governments to take collective action, the individual efforts of countries are still important.

Combating Climate Change in Turkey

According to the IPCC, which was established to inform governments about climate change, the Mediterranean belt is among the top regions that will suffer from global warming and climate change. Due to its location in the Mediterranean, Turkey is among the countries most affected and most expected to be affected by the climate crisis. The extreme weather changes, such as drought, floods, forest fires, and increasing pollution, that have been experienced in the last couple of years are directly related to global warming and reveal the need for Turkey to take immediate action.

Due to its location in the Mediterranean, Turkey is among the countries most affected and most expected to be affected by the climate crisis.

In fact, since the beginning of the 2000s, Turkey has been striving to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by developing policies, setting targets, and implementing projects in many sectors from energy to urbanism, agriculture forestry to industry. The most concrete example of this is its installed capacity of renewable energy: the country has increased its renewable power more than fourfold since 2000 and it now constitutes approximately 52 percent of Turkey’s total installed capacity. (Table 1)

Source: TEIAS

The Zero Waste project, launched in 2017 and developed to combat climate change, is one of Turkey’s pioneering projects. The main objectives of zero waste are to prevent waste, use resources efficiently, and to prevent waste generation by reviewing the processes that generate waste, or at least, to reduce it as much as possible. Since the Zero Waste project was initiated, Turkey has increased its recycling rate from 13 percent to over 20 percent in three years, thus saving 315 million kilowatt-hours of energy, 345 million cubic meters of water, and 41 million cubic meters of storage space. Most importantly, two billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions have been prevented.

Since the beginning of the 2000s, Turkey has been determined to increase its forest assets.

Forests also play a major role in combating climate change. Thanks to their carbon absorption feature, forests reduce greenhouse gas emissions by converting the carbon dioxide into the oxygen. Since the beginning of the 2000s, Turkey has been determined to increase its forest assets. Forest areas, which were about 20 million hectares in 2000, reached 23 million hectares in 2020, and areas lost as a result of fires are also largely recovered through reforestation.

Apart from its individual efforts, Turkey joins international actions to tackle climate change. The country is among the first to sign the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol. Although there were some structural problems due to its status in the UNFCCC, which is the main umbrella for all climate agreements, the country overcame the problems with diplomacy and ratified both agreements. On October 7, 2021, the Paris Agreement was unanimously approved by the Grand National Assembly.

As an EU candidate and a member of the Customs Union, Ankara is also responsible for complying with the European Green Deal and the country published the Green Deal Action Plan in July 2021. Being one of the founding countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Turkey now emphasizes its need for green financing at every opportunity. Acquiring international financial aid to accelerate the efforts to combat climate change is one of the most important items on Ankara’s agenda.

Morocco and Turkey have the potential to establish a promising political and economic cooperation, based on mutual respect and national interests. In addition to the shared cultural and religious ties, both are important geopolitical actors of the MENA region, the Mediterranean, and the Islamic world at large.

Over the past two decades, Morocco and Turkey have intensified their diplomatic relations and trade volume, sharing experience in many sectors such as migration, military cooperation, security affairs as well as the textile and construction sectors.

Turkey regards Morocco as an important partner given the dynamism of Morocco’s economy and the kingdom’s geographical location as a gateway to Africa. But there is also a competitive aspect to this relationship.

From 2011 onward, the Turkish-Moroccan relations indicate a state of reluctance to establish strong relations. Invited by the chief of the government in 2013, then Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited Morocco, seeking a strategic partnership, but he was not received by King Mohammed VI. Moreover, Erdoğan was boycotted by the General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises.

While the coalition government’s leading political party, the Party for Justice and Development in Morocco, had a strong cooperation with Turkey’s JDP (Justice and Development Party or AKP), the monarchy refused to have strong relations with Turkey. However, in December 2014, King Mohammed VI and his family were received by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at his home. It was a friendly and unofficial meeting.

In the summer of 2016, two years later, Morocco condemned the coup attempt against Turkish President Erdoğan and met the Turkish government’s demands to crack down on FETO (Fetullah Terrorist Organization) institutions in Morocco. As a response, in 2017, Morocco closed seven FETO schools and arrested many of those who are affiliated with the group.

Unbalanced Free Trade Agreements

The Turkey-Morocco free trade agreement (FTA) signed on April 7, 2004, in Ankara, and entered into force at the beginning of 2006, provides a significant impetus to bilateral cooperation.

In 2018, the trade volume between Turkey and Morocco increased to around $2.7 billion, which is a positive indicator of the agreements made earlier. Despite the gradual increase, Morocco requested a review of some clauses of the FTA after its local industries and businesses suffered a loss, and the trade balance with Turkey experienced a deficit following the entry into force of the accord in 2006.

This imbalance is due to the similarity of certain sectors in both countries, such as textiles, leather, construction, public works, and distribution networks. In parallel, the Turkish investments in the Kingdom of Morocco were not materialized as expected. The volume of Turkish investments in Morocco does not exceed 1% due to the lack of the promotion of direct Turkish investment in the country, notably through joint-venture operations. However, to increase Turkish investment, Ankara should invest in new sectors such as the pharmaceutical industry, banking services, or insurance, in addition to the establishment of joint investment platforms.

In October 2020, up to 90% additional customs taxation was imposed on Turkish products for a period of five years. These additional taxes cover a total of 1,200 different products in different categories, led by the industry, food, and textile sectors.

The changes and additional taxation were implemented after a controversial 18 months. The Moroccan government thinks that the 2004 free trade agreement with Turkey has a negative impact on Morocco’s trade deficit. For Morocco, enhancing the free trade agreement to overcome impediments for equitable sharing of benefits is critical for sustainable cooperation and is necessary for a win-win perspective.

A Strategic Partnership to What Extent?

While Morocco and Turkey’s bilateral relations are based on common interests on security, migration, development, and territorial integrity, the former Saudi-Turkish confrontation affected regional stability and led to further geopolitical polarization in the Maghreb region. The long-standing rivalry between the two important powers of North Africa, Morocco and Algeria, has always been the determining factor in the steps of international and regional powers toward the region. Maintaining economic and political relations with both countries is an important factor in Turkey’s insistence on a neutral policy toward the region’s two important countries.

One of the most sensitive and important issues is the Sahara crisis. Here, Algeria is providing both financial and political support to the Polisario militias, and Turkey’s relationship with Algeria and its lack of clarity on this issue has led to tense relations between it and Morocco.

In December 2019, the state-owned Turkish television channel TRT World aired an interview with Sahrawi separatist Aminatou Haidar. Haidar’s critical discourse towards the Moroccan state triggered a wave of criticism by Moroccan media. The broadcast was considered blackmail after a call for a readjustment of a free trade deal with Turkey by the Moroccan government.

In economic terms, the visit of Algerian Foreign Minister Sabri Bukadoum to Turkey on September 1, 2020, and his commitment to offering important opportunities to Turkish investor companies, is an indicator of the rivalry between Morocco and Algeria in the Maghreb region and the African continent.

Many different terrorist entities operate across the globe, each with their own agenda and strategies. Among their favorite tactics to survive and expand are taking advantage of the availability of safe zones, utilizing independent income sources, and gaining access to critical resources like oil, water, agriculture, or manpower.

However, to conduct acts of terror, such groups rely on access to weapons. Traditionally, terror groups obtain weapons via the black market while some can rely on supply coming from foreign states. For instance, the support of Iran to Shia militias in the Middle East functions as a strong catalyst that enables Iran to project power in areas where it could normally not reach.

The capabilities and the reach of terror groups exponentially increase with foreign backing. The PKK is, by far, one of the terror groups that enjoys the most foreign support. However, despite the considerable backing, the PKK still struggles to achieve sustainable success which indicates that the group might disappear if it loses its foreign support.

Foreign states’ support for the PKK ranges from active military support to economic aid and political backing. In this manner, the PKK does not lack the necessary aid. Without going too far back, this article will focus on the main aspects of foreign aid received by the PKK since 2012.

The PKK established the YPG as the military wing of the PYD and maintained control over three separate Kurdish enclaves in northern Syria along the Turkish border.

In 2012, the Assad regime faced a dilemma in Syria. It realized that it was not able to control all of Syria as it had to withdraw from large portions of territories to defend “valuable Syria” from Latakia to Damascus. However, such a withdrawal would mean that the Syrian opposition and Turkey would fill the void in Syria’s north.

Based on this, the Syrian regime handed over chunks of territory to the PKK. Until then, the terror group operated mainly in Syria and was politically under its Syrian branch, the PYD. At that time, the PKK established the YPG as the military wing of the PYD and maintained control over three separate Kurdish enclaves in northern Syria along the Turkish border.

Moreover, the PKK earns large sums of money via drug trafficking and extortion money collected across European states. The PKK-affiliated organizations in Europe are vast and large. The PKK operates under fake NGOs, known to the intelligence services of the respective EU states, that undertake the terror group’s activities in Europe.

The PKK operatives sell drugs and collect extortion money from Kurdish businesspeople. While security forces occasionally combat these criminal activities, it is clear that they do not receive the same urgency as they would if they were conducted by Daesh/ISIS.

While the PKK’s main income sources are from direct foreign aid, income is also generated in foreign states, which turn a blind eye to PKK-affiliated organizations.

While the PKK’s main income sources are from direct foreign aid, income is also generated in foreign states, which turn a blind eye to PKK-affiliated organizations.

Moreover, the PKK also enjoys military protection by foreign states – nothing equivalent is seen in any other terror group. In the west and east of Syria, Russia provides military protection for the PKK/YPG in Tal Rifaat, Manbij, Ayn al-Arab, Ayn Issa, Tal Tamr, and Darbasiyah.

Additionally, the U.S. protects the YPG in the northeast corner of Syria stretching from the triangle between Turkey, Iraq, and Syria to the south of Deir ez-Zor. The PKK also enjoys military protection by Iranian-backed Shia militias in Sinjar, Iraq. When Turkey launched Operation Claw Eagle II against the PKK, the Iranian-backed Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba threatened to attack Turkey.

Furthermore, the PKK enjoys the support of foreign states in the form of soft power. This is mostly visible in the media coverage of the PKK. Most notably, the PKK is referred to as the “representative of all Kurdish people.” Even though there is no homogenous ethnic group in the world represented by just one entity and most of the Kurds oppose the PKK, the media continues to lump all Kurds under the banner of the PKK. Mainstream media outlets blatantly ignore the acts of terror by the PKK/YPG and give positive publicity to the two groups in line with the PKK propaganda.

For example, the PKK’s use of car bombings as a means of terror is widely ignored by western media outlets. If any other terror group had conducted over 170 car bomb attacks to kill civilians randomly, it would have been publicly condemned and ostracized. However, the PKK/YPG is not. Only sporadic and few references are made about these acts of terror. While these acts are ignored, the PKK/YPG propaganda of marketing women militia as “Freedom Fighters” is not.

Many books and articles have been written about the role of women in the PKK/YPG without any reference to their use as suicide bombers. Even Hillary Clinton, the former U.S. secretary of state, is part of a project to spread PKK/YPG propaganda by producing a TV series based on a book written about PKK/YPG female terrorists.

These examples are enough to conclude that the PKK is the terror group that receives the most foreign aid across the globe.