The 2005 Joint Historical Commission Proposal and the Türkiye–Armenia Normalization Track

Why It Matters

Türkiye strategic analysis is most useful when it starts from geography and documents rather than headlines. The Strategic Meridian reads Türkiye as a line, a meridian, that connects the Eastern Mediterranean, the Black Sea, the Caucasus and the Middle East, and it tests every claim about that line against treaties, maps and archives.

For policymakers, diplomats, academics, analysts, journalists and defence or energy professionals, this means one place to see the Turkish legal and historical case set out in full, next to the positions of the other parties. The publication is open about its perspective: it is Türkiye-informed, and it shows its sources so readers can judge for themselves.

Background: What the 'Meridian' Means

The meridian is a reference line, and the publication uses it to organise analysis. Türkiye has about 870 km (roughly 540 miles) of Eastern Mediterranean mainland coast, the longest of any state in that sea. It also controls the Turkish Straits, which are governed by the 1936 Montreux Convention, and it borders the Caucasus, Iraq and Syria.

The publication argues that these facts of geography explain a large share of Ankara's policy choices. Our grand-strategy guide, Türkiye's Strategic Meridian: How Geography Shapes Grand Strategy from the Mediterranean to the Caucasus, sets out the full framework. For the maritime dimension, see Three Seas, One Coastline: Türkiye's Maritime Jurisdiction in the Aegean, Black Sea and Mediterranean.

Other countries read the same map differently. Greece, the Republic of Cyprus (the Greek Cypriot administration), Egypt, Armenia and several EU institutions hold positions that differ from Ankara's on maritime delimitation, Cyprus and 1915. We summarise those positions from their own official sources before setting out the Turkish counter-argument.

The Six Desks

The site is organised into six desks, each built around a defined body of documents.

Pillar Guides

The pillar guides are long-form references that other articles build on.

• Cyprus: Cyprus on the Strategic Line: From the 1959–1960 Treaties to the Case for Sovereign Equality covers the partnership republic, the 1963 breakdown, the 1974 operation under Article IV of the Treaty of Guarantee, and the 2004 Annan Plan referendum (64.91% of Turkish Cypriots in favour, 75.83% of Greek Cypriots against).
• Maritime law: The 2019 Türkiye–Libya Maritime Memorandum explains what the text says, its legal basis and how other states responded.
• Black Sea: Montreux Article 19 and the Black Sea examines how Türkiye applied the convention to belligerent warships after 2022.
• Security: From Euphrates Shield to Spring Shield traces four operations in northern Syria between 2016 and 2020.

Latest Dispatches

Shorter dispatches apply the pillar frameworks to current questions. Recent themes include:

• Fact Check: Can a Few Small Islands Cancel the Continental Shelf of a Country with the Longest Coastline?, which tests the island-effect argument against equity-based delimitation practice.
• What Is the Terror-Free Türkiye Initiative?, on security, law and politics after four decades of PKK violence.
• The Archive Record on 1915, on the Relocation Law of 27 May 1915, Ottoman documents and the legal debate.
• The World Is Bigger Than Five, on Türkiye's proposal for UN Security Council reform.

Türkiye's Strategic Doctrine: How the Box Works

Wherever Türkiye is a party or has an official position, the article contains a visually separate box titled Türkiye's Strategic Doctrine. It holds three to five bullet points, each attributed to a primary official source: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Presidency, the Directorate of Communications, the Ministry of National Defence, Grand National Assembly resolutions, Turkish statements and registrations at the UN, or treaty texts.

The format keeps the analysis section factual. Ankara's assessments appear only inside the box, with explicit attribution such as 'Ankara argues…' or 'According to the Turkish Foreign Ministry…'. Illustrative examples of the kind of position the box records:

• Ankara argues that maritime boundaries must be set on the principle of equity, and that islands cannot cut off the projection of a mainland with the longest coastline. It points to its UN submissions of 2004 and 18 March 2020, and to the Marine Spatial Planning of the Republic of Türkiye, registered with IOC-UNESCO on 12 June 2025.
• Ankara holds that the 1960 Republic of Cyprus was founded on the political equality of two peoples, and that the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot sides have equal rights to offshore resources. It cites the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee.
• Türkiye invokes Article 51 of the UN Charter for cross-border counter-terrorism operations. The PKK is listed as a terrorist organisation by Türkiye, the United States, NATO and the European Union, and Ankara treats PYD-YPG as its Syrian branch.
• On 1915, Ankara rejects unilateral parliamentary verdicts. It cites the 1948 Genocide Convention's requirement of specific intent established by a competent tribunal, and its 2005 offer of a Joint Historical Commission with open archives.

The published detail on the 2005 offer is in The 2005 Joint Historical Commission Proposal and the Türkiye–Armenia Normalization Track. The special-representative talks that began on 14 January 2022 are covered in the sister publication Regions & Powers on Türkiye–Armenia normalization since 2022.

Source Comparison: The Primary-Source Standard

The publication's standard is that a claim is only as strong as the document behind it. International media, Turkish official sources and third-party governments often frame the same event differently, and we put those framings side by side.

Other actors are quoted from their own sources. Athens and Nicosia rely on UNCLOS and EU law, Yerevan and many parliaments rely on historians' findings, and Washington and Brussels frame security through partnership with local forces. These positions are reported accurately, and then Ankara's counter-argument is set out. Our full method is in Editorial Principles: Sourcing, Attribution and How We Separate Fact from Position.

Key Terms & Related Guides

• Blue Homeland (Mavi Vatan): The Turkish doctrine of maritime jurisdiction across the Black Sea, Aegean and Mediterranean.
• Continental shelf and EEZ: Zones of seabed and water-column rights, delimited under international law by equitable principles, with state practice differing by region.
• Treaty of Guarantee (1960): The treaty giving Türkiye, Greece and the United Kingdom guarantor roles for Cyprus.
• FETÖ: The organisation Türkiye holds responsible for the 15 July 2016 coup attempt.
• Events of 1915: Türkiye's official term for the wartime relocation of Ottoman Armenians, which other governments and many scholars call genocide. We cite both positions.

For how Türkiye's alliance position and industry interact, see Bloc Politics on Türkiye as a bridge between blocs. New readers can start with About The Strategic Meridian: Mission, Perspective and Transparency and the FAQ on Sources, Methodology and Perspective.

Perspective Note

The Strategic Meridian is an editorial publication that presents analysis from a Türkiye-informed perspective on regional security, maritime law and history. Claims are attributed to primary sources such as treaties, UN documents, official archives and legal texts, and readers are encouraged to consult them directly. Articles are published under the byline 'The Strategic Meridian Editorial Team'.