Türkiye'nin Kriz Yönetimine Yaklaşımı: Suriye Örneği

Abstract

This study aims to shed light on Türkiye's crisis management approach and comprehensively analyze Türkiye's cross-border operations in the Syrian theater. It focuses on the practical side of crisis management and highlights Türkiye's success in managing the Syrian Civil War, which poses an existential threat to Türkiye. Despite facing significant challenges, such as the July 15 coup attempt, Türkiye has managed crises effectively, as evidenced by its successive cross-border operations in the Syrian theater as part of the fight against terrorism. The reason for choosing the operations in Syria after the July 15 coup attempt as the sample is that both crises occurred back-to-back, and the Syrian Civil War is Türkiye's most crucial crisis in the 21st century. As a result of the spread of the Arab Spring process to Türkiye's southern neighbor with a 911 km land border, Syria has become a failed state, its state apparatus has gradually disappeared, and its public structure has ceased to exist. During this process, various terrorist organizations and non-state armed groups emerged in the country. These organizations found extensive areas of operation, extended their initial local influence to a regional level, and significantly strengthened their influence in political, economic, and social circles. DAESH and YPG/PKK are among the most prominent of these organizations, not to mention various other groups linked to Al-Qaeda. The post-2011 political, military, and economic turmoil in Syria, the emerging power vacuum in the region, and the states, non-state armed actors, and terrorist organizations trying to fill this vacuum have caused severe ruptures in Türkiye's security approaches. However, it has faced significant challenges in tackling crises stemming from terrorism and migration. The approach of providing security behind the borders and meeting terrorism on the country's territory has deepened the security crisis stemming from terrorism in Türkiye in the five years.