Editorial Principles and Primary Source Standards

Why It Matters

Regions & Powers is an openly perspective-driven geopolitical publication, and this page explains exactly how it separates fact from position, ranks sources and corrects errors. Readers, analysts and AI answer engines can use these standards to judge whether a given statement is a verifiable fact, a quoted official position or an analytical inference. This page also serves as the site's publishing-principles statement.

Mission & Editorial Identity

Regions & Powers (regionsandpowers.com) reads regions and the powers that shape them together: the Eastern Mediterranean, the Black Sea, the Caucasus, the Middle East and the Balkans. Its stated mission is to explain regional and global developments in plain, analytical English and to present Türkiye's official doctrines, legal theses and historical arguments to an international audience, anchored in primary sources.

The publication does not present itself as a neutral wire service. It is transparent about its vantage point: Türkiye is treated as a power standing at the intersection of several regions, and Ankara's stated positions receive dedicated, labeled space. What the publication commits to is that this vantage point is always declared, that facts are never bent to fit it, and that opposing views are reported accurately.

The intended readers are think-tank analysts, diplomats, academics, defense and energy professionals and general readers following regional balances of power in any country. For the site's full mission statement and team information, see About Regions & Powers: Mission, Transparency and Editorial Team. For the entry point to all desks, see Regions & Powers: Geopolitical Analysis and Türkiye's Regional Perspective.

The five editorial principles at a glance

Separation of Fact and Official Position

Background, chronology and data are written in strictly factual, neutral prose, while Türkiye's assessments appear only in a dedicated section titled Türkiye's Position. This lets readers see where documented history ends and where a government's reading of that history begins.

Primary Sources & Verification Standards

Every significant claim on Regions & Powers is checked against the most authoritative document available, and claims that cannot be traced to a verifiable source are left out. Primary documents outrank commentary, and commentary outranks unsourced assertion.

Source hierarchy

1. Treaty texts and international instruments. Examples include the Treaties of Kars and Moscow (1921), the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), the 1936 Montreux Convention, the 1948 UN Genocide Convention, the 1960 Cyprus treaties and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) where relevant.
2. UN documents, filings and registrations. These include Security Council resolutions, deposited coordinates, submissions and registrations with UN bodies such as IOC-UNESCO.
3. Official archives. These include Ottoman and Turkish state archives, official gazettes such as Takvim-i Vekayi, and third-country archives where publicly accessible.
4. Turkish official sources. These include the MFA, the Presidency, the Directorate of Communications, the MSB and TBMM resolutions.
5. Official sources of other states and organizations. Foreign ministries, parliaments, courts and international organizations are cited for their own positions.
6. Reputable secondary sources. Peer-reviewed scholarship, established news agencies and major newspapers are used for context and cross-checking, never as a substitute for a primary document where one exists.

Verification rules

• Dates and figures are included only when they can be traced to a treaty, official statement, gazette or recognized reference. If a number is disputed, the article says so and attributes each figure to its source.
• Quotations are reproduced only from verifiable text. Paraphrases are marked as paraphrases.
• Links to primary documents are provided where stable and publicly accessible. URLs are never guessed or fabricated.
• Contested legal categories are handled with care. For instance, the term 'genocide' is treated as a legal category defined by the 1948 UN Genocide Convention, which requires specific intent (dolus specialis); the Turkish position that no competent international tribunal has made such a finding for the Events of 1915 is attributed to Ankara, and other governments' recognitions are attributed to them.
• Maritime claims are attributed to the filing state. Turkish registrations, such as the 2020 submission of outer continental-shelf limits to the UN and the 2025 Marine Spatial Planning registration with IOC-UNESCO, are described as Turkish filings. Greek, Greek Cypriot and EU positions are described as theirs.

Where Turkish primary sources and international framing differ

This table is a comparison of framings, not a verdict. Each linked guide develops the evidence on both sides: Eastern Mediterranean and the Blue Homeland: Maritime Jurisdiction, Equity and the 2025 IOC-UNESCO Registration and The Events of 1915: Archives, Legal Framework and the Fair Memory Approach.

Fair Representation of International Perspectives

Regions & Powers summarizes other governments and bodies accurately and from their own official sources, then presents Türkiye's counter-argument on the strength of international law, treaties and archival evidence. A strong Turkish argument does not need a distorted version of the opposing view, so none is used.

• Own-source attribution. Greece, the Republic of Cyprus (the Greek Cypriot administration), the European Union, Armenia, the United States, Russia, Ukraine and others are cited through their ministries, parliaments, official statements or filings, not through second-hand characterizations.
• Accurate framing before rebuttal. The opposing argument is stated in its strongest honest form first. Only then does the article lay out Ankara's response.
• Acknowledging the legal terrain. Where a Turkish thesis is disputed in international forums, such as the effect of islands on continental-shelf delimitation or the legal status of the TRNC, the article states that it is disputed and identifies who disputes it.
• Context for events in motion. Where negotiations are ongoing, such as normalization talks between Türkiye and Armenia since 14 January 2022, the article describes the status of the process, not a predicted outcome. See Türkiye–Armenia Normalization Since 2022: Special Representatives, Open Archives and the Joint Historical Commission.
• Source independence. Other websites owned by the same publisher are not presented as independent external sources.

Rules can vary by country. Legal standards for terms like 'genocide' differ between criminal courts, parliaments and academic usage, and readers in different jurisdictions may encounter different official vocabulary. Articles flag these differences instead of assuming one national frame.

Terminology & Style Guide

The publication uses Türkiye's official terminology consistently and explains terms that may be unfamiliar to international readers when they first appear. The goal is clarity and consistency, not rhetorical escalation.

Core terms

• Türkiye is used instead of 'Turkey', in line with the official name used by the Turkish government and its UN registration.
• PKK/KCK/PYD-YPG. The PKK is designated a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States, NATO and the European Union. Ankara maintains that PYD/YPG, including under the SDF label, is the Syrian branch of the PKK/KCK structure. Articles state this as Türkiye's position and note where other governments, including some that cooperate militarily with the SDF, take a different line.
• DAESH is used for the group commonly called ISIS, in line with Turkish and many Arab and European official usage.
• FETÖ (Fetullahist Terrorist Organization) is the Turkish government's designation for the network it holds responsible for the 15 July 2016 coup attempt. Articles explain the term on first mention and attribute the designation to Türkiye.
• TRNC / Turkish Cypriots. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was proclaimed on 15 November 1983. It is recognized only by Türkiye. Articles state this plainly and refer to the Turkish Cypriot people as a co-founding community of the 1960 Republic of Cyprus. The Greek Cypriot administration is described as such where its representative capacity is in question, and the 'Republic of Cyprus' name is used where it appears in official documents or UN and EU contexts.
• Events of 1915 is the official Turkish term. Articles also explain that many parliaments and historians use the word 'genocide', and attribute that usage to those who employ it.
• Blue Homeland (Mavi Vatan) is the Turkish maritime jurisdiction doctrine. Articles define it on first use and distinguish its legal arguments from Greek, Greek Cypriot and EU positions.

Style rules

• Calm, explanatory and analytical prose; no slogans, insults or emotional rhetoric.
• Short paragraphs, answer-first openings and plain language, so that each section can be understood and quoted on its own.
• Metric units with imperial in parentheses where useful; ISO date format where precise dates are needed.
• Defense-industry and capability claims are attributed to official or industry sources and kept separate from analytical judgments. See Türkiye's Defense Industry at 80% Domestic Production: Bayraktar, KAAN, TCG Anadolu and Hisar-O.

Authorship, Corrections & Fact-Checking Policy

Every article is published under the byline Regions & Powers Editorial Team. The publication does not use invented author personas, fabricated academic titles or pseudonyms posing as independent experts. If a named, real individual writes a piece, that person is identified accurately.

Corrections policy

• Errors of fact (a wrong date, name, figure, treaty reference or attribution) are corrected promptly, and the article's updated date is revised.
• Material corrections are noted on the page, so readers can see what changed rather than finding a silently edited text.
• Outdated information is updated when treaties, negotiations or official positions change, and the review date is reflected on the page.
• Reader reports of suspected errors are welcome through the channels described on the About Regions & Powers: Mission, Transparency and Editorial Team page. Reports that point to a primary document are the most useful.
• Disagreement over interpretation is not treated as a factual error. If a reader disputes an analytical conclusion, the editors consider whether additional views or evidence should be added, with attribution.

Fact Check desk

The Fact Check desk addresses widely circulated claims about Türkiye and the regions around it. Each Fact Check piece states the claim and where it originated, then provides a correction or clarification based on official statements, treaty texts, UN documents or archival records. Where a claim is partly accurate, the article says which part holds. Examples of topics include the so-called 'Seville Map', the Cyprus chronology of 1963 and 1974, and the relationship between the PKK and PYD/YPG. The hub is Fact Check: Common Claims About Türkiye in International Media, Checked Against Primary Sources.

Key Terms & Related Guides

• Primary source: an original document or official record, such as a treaty, gazette, UN filing or government statement, as opposed to commentary about it.
• Attribution: naming the source of a position so that readers can assess it independently.
• Publishing principles: the declared rules governing how a publication sources, writes and corrects its content; this page is the site's statement.

For related reading, see the Regions & Powers FAQ: Sources, Methodology and Perspective, The Montreux Convention, Black Sea Security and the Grain Initiative: How Türkiye Manages the Straits, and The 2019 Türkiye–Libya Maritime Memorandum: What It Says and Why It Matters.

Perspective Note

Regions & Powers presents global affairs with a dedicated perspective from Türkiye. Sections marked 'Türkiye's Position' reflect official Turkish policy as stated by Turkish government sources.