Turkısh Foreıgn Polıcy II (ENG) — Ünite 5 Soru-Cevap

National security refers to the absence of threat posed to a nation state and involves the security of
not only persons but also economy and institutions.

Realists stress that in an anarchic international system, state sovereignty as well as military and economic power (hard power) are the significant aspects of the international system.

Joseph S. Nye mentions three kinds of power: a) hard power, which includes military power and
economic power; b) soft power, which refers to the power to attract and co-opt rather than coerce and includes culture, ideas of value, and social ideology; c) smart power refers to the ability of combining the strategies of both hard power and soft power (Nye, 2004).

Stephen Walt, contends that security studies need to focus solely on the study of threat, threat perceptions as well as the control and use of military force. 

For critical approach scholars, emancipation should be the main objective; in other words, emancipation is what needs to be attained by all. As Ken Booth argues, emancipation is “the freeing of people from the physical and human constraints which stop them carrying out what they would freely choose to do” (Booth, 1991). As such, states can achieve peace only through the emancipation of people. Booth maintains that maximizing military power does not necessarily
produce security, but rather it produces “insecurities.” The goal, then, should be to voice the ideas and experiences of the disadvantaged, the poor, the unrepresented, the voiceless, and the powerless. CSS points at the importance of alternative views that are “non-zero sum” in character”.

The difference between critical approaches and traditional theories is that mainstream scholars seem to follow a problem solving approach whereas critical scholars favor human emancipation.

John J. Mearsheimer offers three reasons for the relative peace in the post-war era:
1) bipolarity;
2) approximately equal military power between the superpowers;
3) nuclear weapons (Mutually Assured Destruction capability (MAD).

Bruce Russett, argues that democratic governments do not go to war against each other at least for three reasons: a) democratic governments respect human rights, b) they have shared principles, norms and values, and c) they are restricted by their constituencies (Russett, 1994). On the other hand, some scholars disagree with such ideas. For example, Christopher Layne holds that there are cases in diplomatic history when democratic governments did in fact threaten each other or even engaged in an armed conflict such as the United States-Britain conflicts in 1812 and 1895/1896, the Fashoda crisis in 1898 as well as the Ruhr crisis in 1923. Therefore, Layne concludes that the democratic peace theory is lacking historical data (Layne, 1994).

David Mitrany suggests that states should first cooperate in technical or scientific issues before cooperating in relatively conflictual issues that involve transferring part of their sovereignty to a higher institutional authority. Therefore, he believes that “forms follow function;” establishing universal institutions such as the United Nations as blueprints should come after states have achieved cooperation in certain issue areas. In bringing about stability, especially at the regional level, Ernst B. Haas, a prominent functionalist, emphasized the importance of regional and supranational institutions in the late 1950s and early 1960s and promoted the idea of spill-over (Haas, 1958). However, Haas later became skeptical about reaching international peace or stability through regionalism and suggested that “regionalism would not develop universal cooperation at all” (Haas, 1975). Thus, neo-functionalism became “obsolete” as well. On the other hand, neo-institutionalism/rationalistic institutionalism, has been one theory that attempts at explaining the issues of stability and peaceful transformation at the international (global) level. Neo-institutionalist scholars started to argue early in the 1970’s that realist arguments have failed explaining international cooperation and conflict. As such, the concept of regime has been promoted in IR studies in order to illustrate “the existence of international cooperation in the absence of a world government” (Doğan, 2011).

Various schools of thought in the field of international relations have defined international regimes by way of similar objectives that states may have such as “common interests,” and “convergence of interests,” and mostly emphasized the concepts of “principles, norms, rules and procedures” toward explaining how they cooperated.

The components of Krasner's definiton of regimes are:

• Principles: beliefs of facts.
• Norms: rights and obligations, standards of accepted behavior.
• Rules: prescribed ways of action, in other words, “principles of action”. 
• Decision-making procedures: prevailing practices for facilitating and implementing collective choice with the help of institutions or agreements (Krasner, 1982).

Nowadays security threats are more complex than ever with numerous reasons, including economic, social and political concerns. One OSCE document has drawn attention to the economic dimension of security saying that the “deepening economic and social disparities, lack of rule of law, weak governance in public and corporate spheres, corruption, widespread poverty and high unemployment are among the economic factors, which threaten stability and security” (OSCE, 2019). What is more, recent technological developments have created new challenges for both
stability and security in the world. The destabilizing effects of military developments, ethnic and
sectarian conflicts as well as international terrorism have resulted in security concerns for states in the twenty-first century. Given the concerns that the new technologies created, Vladimir Voronkov, the first Under Secretary-General for the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) argued that
“it is necessary to increase the exchange of expert knowledge on technologies such as 3D printing,
synthetic biology, nanotechnology, robotics, the synthesis of the human face and autonomous
weapons” (UN News, 2019).

Cyber Security or information technology security: “is a field within information technology involving the protection of computer systems and the prevention of unauthorized use or changes or access of electronic data. It deals with the protection of software, hardware, networks and its information. Due to the heavy reliance on computers in the modern industry that store and transmit an abundance of confidential information about people, cyber security is a critical function and needed
insurance of many businesses. It also protects computer systems from theft or damage” (https://en.wikibooks.org).

In Europe, the OSCE serves as a forum for discussing security concerns and promoting political dialogue among its member states including Turkey. It also sets politically binding principles and norms in certain issue areas. Within the OSCE framework, the Annual Security Review Conference (ASRC) helps analyze, identify, and prepare for new challenges as part of its ongoing political dialogue and response efforts.

The focus of all OSCE counter-terrorism activities is related to policing and border management. The organization works toward not only curbing terror acts but also eliminating the financing of terrorist activities. A primary objective is to prevent terrorists from reaching SALW and non-conventional weapons such as WMD, including nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. 

Turkey signed a bilateral agreement on August 6, 2009, with Moscow giving the Russian National Nuclear Corporation (ROSATOM) the right not merely to build but to Build-Own-Operate (BOO) the nuclear facility in Akkuyu/Mersin, the first such foreign plant to be established on a BOO basis in Turkey. Moreover, the Akkuyu power plant is to be the first of three such installations to be constructed on Turkish territory by ROSATOM, making relations with Russia a critical component of
Turkish security and energy strategies.

Iranian policymakers have sought to strengthen relations with Turkey in areas such as trade and
tourism. Turkey positively reciprocated this diplomatic move; however, it has been willing to cooperate with Iran on a wider basis, especially in the energy field. Yet Iranian officials still perceive Turkey as a threat because of its membership in NATO. Iran also perceives Turkey’s close ties with the US as a hindrance to its regional policies, noting that back in September 2011, for example, Turkey approved the installation of an early-warning radar in the town of Kürecik, some 435 miles from Iran (Collina, 2011). This military installation came to be known as the Kürecik Radar Station. The installation of the NATO radar system in Turkey may be considered a serious setback in Turkish-Iranian relations. 

Turkey’s relations with Russia improved once the Cold War had ended. Turkey recently wanted to
stay away from conflictual relations with Russia in an attempt to balance Western powers. However, on November 24, 2015, relations deteriorated once again following the downing of a Russian warplane that violated briefly (approximately 17 seconds) Turkish airspace. Even though the warplane did not target the Turkish forces, Turkish officials cited the incursion as a violation of Turkish airspace, arguing that Russia did not inform them of the flight plan. The Russian counter-argument was that they had informed the U.S. and that therefore they had expected U.S. officials to inform their NATO ally. NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg backed the Turkish officials saying that “all allies fully support Turkey’s right to defend its territorial integrity and its airspace” (Stoltenberg, 2015).

The Gaza flotilla raid: “was a military operation by Israel against six civilian ships of the “Gaza Freedom Flotilla” on 31 May 2010 in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea. Nine activists were killed on one ship during the raid. One further Turkish activist died later of his wounds. Three of the six flotilla ships were carrying humanitarian aid and construction materials, with the intention of breaking the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip”