Zenonas Tziarras: All news
16 news items
New Case Brief: Ethical Issues and Controversies in the Astana Process: Questioning Representation and Ownership
This new FAIR case brief by Zenonas Tziarras focuses on how the Astana process became central to the peace efforts regarding the Syria conflict after 2017, but it has been heavily influenced by the interests and positions of its three sponsors or guarantor powers: Russia, Turkey, and Iran.
New book: The Foreign Policy of the Republic of Cyprus Local, Regional and International Dimensions
This book examines the foreign policy of the Republic of Cyprus, particularly since 2004—the year of its accession to the European Union and of the failed Annan Plan V of the United Nations which aimed to solve the decades-old Cyprus Problem. Scholarly work about the politics and foreign policy of the Republic of Cyprus (RoC) has been almost entirely analyzed through the prism of the Cyprus Problem. This is not without justification since the Cyprus Problem is indeed central to the social, political, and economic life of Cyprus. However, Cyprus is located in a highly neuralgic area of historical and geopolitical importance that is, more often than not, characterized by rapid developments, instability, and insecurity. Therefore, the RoC's politics and foreign policy go well beyond the confines of the Cyprus Problem, or so they should. Although the subject of the book is not international by definition, the book touches upon many regional and international dimensions that render it relevant for anyone who wants to better understand not just Cyprus but also the broader region and its importance for regional and international actors.
Buy the book here
RedLines Project Kick-Off Meeting
The Red Lines and Grey Zones project has been officially launched with a kick-off meeting on the 1st of March. Please find an introduction to the project presented by Kristoffer Lidén above.
Turkish Foreign Policy: The Lausanne Syndrome in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East
In the context of rapid developments in Turkey and its broader geopolitical environment over the past decade, this book examines and conceptualises Turkey’s changing foreign policy towards a more assertive and revisionist paradigm.
Podcast Episode on Natural Resources and Struggles for Power in the Eastern Mediterranean
Recent discovery of hydrocarbon has exacerbated existing geopolitical tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean. In an episode of PRIO's Peace in a Pod, PRIO Cyprus Centre Researcher Zenonas Tziarras gives an overview of the Eastern Mediterranean, laying out its key players and its recent history, and sheds light on why hydrocarbons are consequential for a region that includes several Middle Eastern countries.
Workshop on Ethical Issues in Peace Negotiations and Mediation
On 9-10 September 2021, around 20 researchers met for a hybrid online-offline workshop to share their research on specific cases of ethical issues in peace negotiations and mediation. The workshop was part of the PRIO project 'On Fair Terms: The Ethics of Peace Negotiations and Mediation' (FAIR) and included both PRIO researchers and researchers from across the world.
New Project on Ethics of Humanitarian Negotiation
The project "Red Lines and Grey Zones: Exploring the Ethics of Humanitarian Negotiation" has received funding from the Research Council of Norway. Starting from consultations with humanitarian practitioners, the project will map problems related to the ethics of negotiation and cross examine these challenges through cases from Syria, Bangladesh, Colombia, Nepal, the Mediterranean and the UN Security Council.
Zenonas Tziarras in ISPI Panel Discussion 'The Scramble for the Eastern Mediterranean'
New Podcast with Zenonas Tziarras
In this episode of The Conversation podcast, Dr. Zenonas Tziarras talks about Turkish foreign policy in the Eastern Mediterranean.
What objectives does Turkey have?
How and why is Turkish foreign policy revisionist?
What about the conflict and the presence of non-state actors in the region? And what do Turkish actions mean for other regional players?
Zenonas Tziarras talks about the patterns of cooperation and competition in the Eastern Mediterranean
In this talk for Deep Dive Politics Zenonas covers the international systemic drivers and individual state interests that led to the emergence of the new security architecture in the Eastern Mediterranean. He specifically analyzes the impact of global power shifts on the regional level, Turkish foreign policy, and the factors that led to a closer cooperation among Eastern Mediterranean states. Lastly, the talk covers the prospects and challenges of regional integration.
Zenonas Tziarras on Euronews
Zenonas Tziarras comments on the new round of talks on the Cyprus Problem that are taking place in Geneva.
See here
Positive Impact of Eastern Med Hydrocarbons Hinges on Overcoming Differences
In a recent article entitled "Energy and Sovereignty in the new Geopolitics of the Eastern Mediterranean" published in the Oxford Energy Forum, PRIO Cyprus Centre researcher Zenonas Tziarras asks how much of the recent crises can really be attributed to hydrocarbons, given other underlying issues and a history of regional tensions. He argues that hydrocarbons can only have a positive impact on eastern Mediterranean dynamics if the regional states (first) manage to resolve their fundamental and sometime decades-old differences.
What Erdogan Really Wants in the Eastern Mediterranean
"Turkey’s adventures abroad are about more than hydrocarbons. They’re a bold and expensive attempt at geopolitical revisionism," writes Zenonas Tziarras and Jalel Harchaoui in an Argument article in Foreign Policy. Read the article here
What Peace for Syria? PRIO Cyprus Centre & PRIO Middle East Centre Report
Since the outbreak of the conflict almost 10 years ago, Syria has become a country of limited sovereignty. It is now de facto divided into a number of different zones controlled by external powers as well as by various internal (armed) non-state actors. This report examines the trajectory and dynamics of the Syrian peace process, with particular emphasis on the Syrian Sunni opposition and its important role in the conflict balance, the peace process and the post-war Syria.
Geopolitical Antagonisms Usher Libya Into a New Conflict Phase
In the PRIO Cyprus Centre (PCC) Policy Brief 'Turning the Tide in Libya: Rival Administrations in a New Round of Conflict' – co-published with the PRIO Middle East Centre – Zenonas Tziarras and Ioannis Sotirios Ioannou analyze the geopolitical dynamics in Libya following Turkey's military intervention in December 2019. They argue that Libya has turned into a battleground for a peculiar version of a proxy war between Turkey on behalf of the Government of National Accord (GNA) and UAE, Egypt, Russia, and France on behalf of the Libyan National Army (LNA).
Project on the Ethics of Peace Negotiations and Mediation Receives Funding
What makes peace negotiations fair?
This is the over-arching question asked in the project On Fair Terms: The Ethics of Peace Negotiations and Mediation, which has now received three years of NORGLOBAL funding from the Research Council of Norway.
Congratulations to project leader Henrik Syse, and the other project participants: Kristoffer Lidén (PRIO), Kwesi Aning (KAIPTC), Fitriani (CSIS), Cedric de Coning (NUPI), Eli Stamnes (NUPI), Harry Tzimitras (PRIO Cyprus Centre), Zenonas Tziarras (PRIO Cyprus Centre), Torunn L. Tryggestad (PRIO), Gregory M. Reichberg (PRIO), Nadim Khoury (PRIO), Wenche Hauge (PRIO), Kristian Berg Harpviken (PRIO), Jenny Lorentzen (PRIO), Isabel Bramsen (University of Copenhagen) and Eric Stollenwerk (Freie Universität Berlin).
