Türkiye’nin Suriye Krizindeki Koruma Sorumluluğu Politikası (2011-2015)

Abstract

The Syrian civil war, which has been going on for more than eight years, gave rise to an unprecedented humanitarian crisis within both Syria and be- yond. The human tragedy that unfolded is a stark reminder of the unfulfilled responsibilities of the international community as embodied in the principle of the Responsibility to Protect (RtoP). RtoP, involving both prevention and coercive tools, impose different kinds of obligations on different actors of the international community. Among state actors of the international community, close neighbours are critical players in the sense that they are the ones that are likely to be the most negatively affected by the conflict beyond their borders and thus are expected to have the greatest will, if not always the capacity, to effect the course of events. This paper seeks to examine how RtoP found expression in the foreign policy of Turkey that shares its longest border with Syria. Together with other neighbouring countries that host millions of refu- gees, Turkey, which also experienced serious security problems in its borders, stood as one of the most affected countries by this crisis and kept RtoP on its agenda both for instrumental and normative reasons for a long time. The aim of this study is to examine how RtoP in general and its preventive and coer- cive pillars in particular came to be understood and what concrete steps were taken to breathe life into them by the officials in Ankara. In pursuit of this aim, the policies from the beginning of the crisis (2011) till the period when national security discourse gained priority over protection discourse (2015) are analysed through official rhetoric and practices.