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Begin New Search Political Geography Turkey Content Type Journal Article Journal Uluslararasi Iliskiler Publication Year within 25 Years

31. A Dance of Entanglement: The US-Turkish Relations in the Context of the Syrian Conflict

Author:
Burcu Sari Karademir
Publication Date:
08-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
International Relations Council of Turkey (UİK-IRCT)
Abstract:
Alliances under unipolarity operate with different logic than under bipolarity. Unipolarity makes the twin dangers of abandonment and entrapment more likely for the weaker states that need the unipole for the pursuit of their regional security interests. The article takes the US-Turkish relations within the context of Syrian conflict as exemplary and shows how the strategic discrepancies between the US-Turkish positions paved the way for Turkey’s abandonment in Syria. The article concludes that the unipole’s strategic alliance commitments are no longer reliable for regional allies to assume risky regional restructuring roles as they face the risk of abandonment on the halfway.
Topic:
International Relations, Alliance, Syrian War, and Unipolarity
Political Geography:
Turkey, Middle East, Syria, United States of America, and Mediterranean

32. Relations between Turkey and Syria in the 1980’s and 1990’s: Political Islam, Muslim Brotherhood and Intelligence Wars

Author:
Behlül Özkan
Publication Date:
08-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
International Relations Council of Turkey (UİK-IRCT)
Abstract:
The aim of this study is to examine how continuities and discontinuities over a period of nearly half a century have shaped the AKP government’s relationship with the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood and the Assad regime. From the start of the 1980s until the 2011 Arab Uprisings, relations between Turkey, Turkish Islamists, Syria, and the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood remained highly complex. Based on the information available from open sources and newspaper archives, this study terms the conflict between the Turkish and Syrian intelligence services that broke out in the 1980s as an “intelligence war.” Both countries viewed the PKK and the Muslim Brotherhood – domestic enemies which they were trying to stamp out – as useful actors to be played off against the other party. While the Syrian/PKK part of the equation was frequently alluded to by the Turkish media and Turkish academia, Turkey’s relations with the Muslim Brotherhood were gradually forgotten. Though open support for the Brotherhood was never an element in Ankara’s official foreign policy, Turkey’s intelligence and security forces did establish ties to the Brotherhood in order to strengthen Turkey’s hand against Syria and made use of the organization insofar as it was in their interest to do so.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Cold War, History, Syrian War, Islamism, and Muslim Brotherhood
Political Geography:
Turkey, Middle East, and Syria

33. One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: Legal Arguments on the Visa–Free Travel of Turkish Citizens to the EU

Author:
A. Aslı Bilgin and Pierluigi Simone
Publication Date:
08-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
International Relations Council of Turkey (UİK-IRCT)
Abstract:
Within the scope of the Readmission Agreement signed in 2013 between the European Union (EU) and Turkey, the EU will grant visa–free travel for Turkish citizens in exchange for Turkey readmitting the illegally resident of third- country nationals transited through the territory of Turkey to Europe. However, in accordance with the EU–Turkey Association Law and the case–law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), visa-free travel could be valid for Turkish citizens who would conduct or plan to conduct economic activity in the EU since the entry into force of the Additional Protocol (AP) of 1970 and Association Council Decision (ACD) No.1/80. This paper examines whether visa–free travel for Turkish citizens is an already-acquired right stemming from the EU–Turkey Association Law or would be a favor given by the EU in exchange for signing the Readmission Agreement, via the interpretation of Article 41 (1) of the AP and Article 13 of ACD 1/80, in light of the case–law of the CJEU.
Topic:
Bilateral Relations, Law, European Union, and Citizenship
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, Middle East, and Mediterranean

34. Ayselin Gözde Yıldız, The European Union’s Immigration Policy: Managing Migration in Turkey and Morocco (Book Review)

Author:
Gül Oral
Publication Date:
01-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
International Relations Council of Turkey (UİK-IRCT)
Abstract:
Migration has been an important reason for externalization of the EU’s policies towards nonmember third countries. Throughout the 2000s, the European Union has advanced its efforts for externalization of its immigration policies with the aim of providing security, stability, and prosperity in the neighborhood due to emerging demographic, economic and security problems. The book aims to conceptualize the external dimension of the EU’s immigration policy and its implications for non-member third countries by carrying out a comparative case study for assessing to what extent the EU has achieved to externalize its immigration policy. Accordingly, the author examines why the EU has been forming an external dimension to its immigration policy and how it aspires to impress the immigration policies of non-member countries beyond its borders (p.2). While evaluating the external dimension of the EU’s policy and its implication for transit countries, Yıldız takes into consideration security and development aspects of migration and discusses which of those aspects have become more influential for forming the EU’s external actions and practices.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Migration, Immigration, European Union, and Book Review
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, and Morocco

35. Leverages and Constraints for Turkish Foreign Policy in Syrian War: A Structural Balance Approach

Author:
Serdar Ş. Güner and Dilan E. Koç
Publication Date:
01-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
International Relations Council of Turkey (UİK-IRCT)
Abstract:
Various balance and imbalance conditions among the U.S., Russia, Turkey, Syria, and Iran are analyzed to present how changes in the direction of conflict and cooperation disturb the regional balance in the Syria conflict. We find that given a stable hostility between the U.S. and Russia, and the stable friendship between Russia and Syria, Turkish preferences over coveting friendship and leaning toward enmity are central in the formation of balances. Turkey-Syria relations constitute a key for the balance in the region. A main Russian foreign-policy problem thus remains to help Turkey and Syria to conduct friendlier relations. A competition or an agreement between the U.S. and Russia over Kurdish independence underlies TFP alignment choices and a high likelihood of a protracted conflict for years to come in the Middle East.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Political Power Sharing, and Syrian War
Political Geography:
Turkey, Middle East, and Syria

36. Making a Case over Greco-Turkish Rivalry: Major Power Linkages and Rivalry Strength

Author:
Deniz Sert and Konstantinos Travlos
Publication Date:
01-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
International Relations Council of Turkey (UİK-IRCT)
Abstract:
The goal of the paper is to explore how the intensity of the Greco-Turkish rivalry (in the 19th and 20th centuries) was affected by variation in the intensity of rivalries between major powers that have political and military connections to Greece and Turkey. By comparing the effect of relevant major power rivalries with a battery of alternative domestic, dyadic, military, and political variables, the article serves as a deductive evaluation to see how important, if at all, variation in the volatility of intensity of the relevant major power rivalries is on the Greek-Turkish rivalry intensity volatility.
Topic:
History, Power Politics, Geopolitics, and Rivalry
Political Geography:
Turkey, Greece, and Mediterranean

37. The Migration/Refugee Crisis and the (Un/Re) Making of Europe: Risks and Challenges for Greece

Author:
Dimitris Keridis
Publication Date:
10-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
International Relations Council of Turkey (UİK-IRCT)
Abstract:
The migration and refugee crisis that erupted in 2015 landed recession riven Greece with a series of humanitarian, political, social, and financial as well as foreign policy and security challenges. Following a near disastrous open-borders policy steeped in leftist ideological parochialism, Athens aligned itself closely with Germany in support of the EU-Turkey deal that drastically reduced the human flows from Turkey into the EU and invited NATO naval forces to help monitor the implementation of the agreement. This paper is structured around two parts: the first part describes the immigration and refugee crisis itself, from a global, European and national-Greek perspective; the second part analyzes the risks to and policy responses of Greece and how they relate to the country’s overall geostrategic position, at a time when Europe is being redefined as it struggles to respond to a multitude of challenges.
Topic:
NATO, Economics, Migration, and Refugees
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, and Greece

38. Framing the Russian Aircraft Crisis: News Discourse in Turkey’s Polarized Media Environment

Author:
Burak Özçetin and Banu Baybars-Hawks
Publication Date:
06-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
International Relations Council of Turkey (UİK-IRCT)
Abstract:
This article analyzes the way in which the downing of a Russian aircraft by a Turkish F-16 jet on 24 November 2015 was framed by pro-government (Türkiye, Yeni Akit, Yeni Şafak) and anti-government (Cumhuriyet) newspapers. Framing means selecting some aspects of a perceived reality and making them more salient in a communicating text. News frames give us definitions and identify those responsible for an event; make moral judgements; and propose solutions to problems. The analysis of the news frames utilized by four newspapers underlines the fact that in a polarized media environment news frames are highly politicized and the distinction between news frames and official discourse is frequently blurred.
Topic:
Media, Syrian War, Crisis Management, and Polarization
Political Geography:
Russia, Eurasia, Turkey, and Mediterranean

39. The JDP’s Changing Discursive Strategies towards Israel: Rhetoric vs. Reality

Author:
Gencer Özcan
Publication Date:
06-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
International Relations Council of Turkey (UİK-IRCT)
Abstract:
Justice and Development Party [JDP] governments’ policies towards Israel were informed by the priorities that the party’s power strategies entailed. In a stark contrast to the friendly policies in its first term in power, the JDP began to employ different discursive strategies based on an anti-Israeli rhetoric since 2009. Geared to bolster the party’s prestige at home and abroad, the new rhetoric seemed to have addressed to the changing priorities of the party leadership. However, the new strategies led to the emergence of a widening gap between the anti-Israeli rhetoric and subtle efforts that the JDP paid to maintain its relations with Israel. Revisiting the last 15 years, the article tries to answer the question as to how Turkey’s relations with Israel were adjusted to meet necessities of miscellaneous power strategies that the JDP leadership pursued.
Topic:
International Relations, Politics, Arab Spring, and Political Parties
Political Geography:
Turkey, Middle East, and Israel

40. Change in Turkey’s Northern Iraq Policy: A Comparative Analysis of Turgut Özal and Tayyip Erdoğan’s Tenures

Author:
Özlem Kayhan Pusane
Publication Date:
01-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
International Relations Council of Turkey (UİK-IRCT)
Abstract:
Since the 1960s, Turkish policymakers have developed a distant attitude towards the Kurdish movement in Iraq and they have been concerned about the possibility of similar developments taking place in Turkey. However, in the early 1990s, and then from 2007/2008 onwards, Turkey left its distant attitude towards northern Iraq and pursued an active policy developing close relations with the Iraqi Kurds. This paper explores to what extent Turkey’s foreign policy change towards northern Iraq in these two periods constituted leader-driven change and to what extent these changes resulted from structural/environmental factors.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, Politics, Kurds, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Turgut Özal
Political Geography:
Iraq, Turkey, and Middle East