1st Edition

Human Security in Turkey Challenges for the 21st century

Edited By Alpaslan Özerdem, Füsun Özerdem Copyright 2013

    This edited volume explores human security challenges in the context of Turkey.

    Turkey occupies a critical geopolitical position between Europe, the Middle East and the Caucasus. It is an important peace-broker in regional conflicts and a leading country in peacekeeping operations, and has been a generous donor for disaster response around the world. However, Turkey is also facing a number of fundamental sociocultural and development challenges and its internal stability is affected by a protracted armed conflict based on Kurdish separatism. In other words, Turkey is at a crossroads in its transformation from a state-centred security perspective to one based on human security.

    To explore selected human security challenges within a wider context of peace and development, this volume focuses on a number of key issues in relation to democratization and social cohesion, before going on to investigate the role of Turkey as an agent of peace in the international context. Written by academics from the fields of peace studies, international relations, politics and development studies, the discussions examine and highlight the issues that Turkey must overcome if it is to successfully strengthen its human security trajectories in the near future.

    This book will be of much interest to students of human security, Turkish politics, conflict management, peace studies and IR in general.

    Introduction, Editors  Foreword: Human Security – A Practitioner’s Perspective, Filippo Grandi  1.  Human(secur)ity and Its Subjects, Oliver P. Richmond  Part I: Democratization and Social Cohesion  2. Minority Protection: A Thorny Issue in Turkish–EU Relations, Özden Zeynep Oktav  3. What Went Wrong with the ‘Romani Opening’ in Turkey?, Funda Gençoğlu Onbaşı  4. Teaching National Security or Peace?: The Case of the Turkish National Curriculum, Bezen Balamir Coşkun and Halit Hakan Ediğ  5. Democratization, Conflict Transformation and Women’s Organizations, Sanem Özer  6. Social Exclusion and Local Authorities: A Case Study of İstanbul, İhsan İkizer  7. Uncertain Past, Uncertain Future, Uncertain Present: Social Cohesion and Conflicts in Iğdır Province, Giacomo Golinelli  Part II: Turkey as an Agent of Peace and Security  8. Religion in Turkey’s Domestic and International Agendas: Human Security Perspectives, Füsun Özerdem, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, and Alan Hunter  9. Turkey: Bridging Europe and Islam, Devrim Ümit  10. Securitization and Externalization of the Migration Practices in the EU: Readmission Agreements and the Turkish Case, Burcu Toğral  11. Termination of the Vendetta of the Black Sea? Stable Peace, Energy Security and Russian–Turkish Relations, Reşat Bayer  12. Turkey’s Human Security Agenda in the Gaza Stri, Ibrahim Natil  Conclusion, Editors

    Biography

    Alpaslan Özerdem is Professor of Peacebuilding and Director of the Centre for Peace and Reconciliation Studies at Coventry University, UK. He is co-editor of Participatory Research Methodologies in Development and Post Disaster/Conflict Reconstruction (2010) and co-author of Managing Emergencies and Crises (2011), among other books. He is also Chief Editor of the Journal of Conflict Transformation and Security.

    Füsun Özerdem is Assistant Professor in Political Science and International Relations at Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Turkey. Her main areas of expertise are EU regional policy, Turkey’s accession to the EU, cross-border cooperation programmes, EU social policy and human security.