Turkey's Strategy Research Articles

Recent Regional Development Strategies in Turkey and Smart Cities: The Case of the Southern Aegean Region (TR32)

This article critically examines how the smart cities approach has been employed as a strategic tool in Turkey's recent regional development strategies. The paper explores the efficiency of development strategies prepared for Turkey's South Aegean Region (TR32) with a focus on smart city elements. These strategic elements include transportation, smart governance, energy efficiency, and digital transformation at the sub-regional level. The sub-regional plans prepared by the South Aegean Development Agency (GEKA) serve as a distinctive example of incorporating new technology-based urban and regional practices into regional development plans in Turkey. GEKA's smart city strategies, while addressing best practices, are criticized for a predominant focus on technological solutions, neglecting crucial human elements like sustainability and social inclusion. These strategies risk widening economic and social inequalities between urban and rural areas due to high costs and increased involvement of private sector companies, leading to an uneven distribution of projects. Critics argue that GEKA's plans lack transparency and public participation, prompting a call for a renewed debate on development agency strategies in Turkey. Furthermore, through a renewed emphasis on the integration of human-centric considerations and the cultivation of participatory governance mechanisms, GEKA's smart city strategies have the potential to facilitate sustainable and equitable development within the TR32 Region.

Recent Regional Development Strategies in Turkey and Smart Cities: The Case of the Southern Aegean Region (TR32)

This article critically examines how the smart cities approach has been employed as a strategic tool in Turkey's recent regional development strategies. The paper explores the efficiency of development strategies prepared for Turkey's South Aegean Region (TR32) with a focus on smart city elements. These strategic elements include transportation, smart governance, energy efficiency, and digital transformation at the sub-regional level. The sub-regional plans prepared by the South Aegean Development Agency (GEKA) serve as a distinctive example of incorporating new technology-based urban and regional practices into regional development plans in Turkey. GEKA's smart city strategies, while addressing best practices, are criticized for a predominant focus on technological solutions, neglecting crucial human elements like sustainability and social inclusion. These strategies risk widening economic and social inequalities between urban and rural areas due to high costs and increased involvement of private sector companies, leading to an uneven distribution of projects. Critics argue that GEKA's plans lack transparency and public participation, prompting a call for a renewed debate on development agency strategies in Turkey. Furthermore, through a renewed emphasis on the integration of human-centric considerations and the cultivation of participatory governance mechanisms, GEKA's smart city strategies have the potential to facilitate sustainable and equitable development within the TR32 Region.

Forecasting of COVID-19 Cases Under Different Precaution Strategies in Turkey

The coronavirus disease started at the end of 2019 and affected all the countries in the world. In Turkey, the vaccination process started at the beginning of 2021 but performed in slow progress. Thus, the Turkish Government tried to implement precautions to control this virus's spread. In this study, we evaluated and compared five different forecasting models, ARIMA, Prophet, NARNN, Stacked LSTM, and Bidirectional LSTM, in order to show the effect of these precaution strategies on virus spread using a real-world data set. According to the test results, ARIMA and Prophet were found to be the most accurate models for small data sets that are split regarding precautions. Moreover, test results showed that when data size grows, LSTM model performance increases. However, these models' performance decreased when we fed these models by using the entire data set without splitting.

Twenty - day Border Conflict in the No Man's Land

Due to the civil war in Syria, many Syrians have fled conflict areas in search of safety in other countries, resulting in a severe migratory problem. The situation in Syria grew increasingly complicated post-civil war due to the involvement of global powers and radical Islamist factions. In a significant incident, forces of the Assad regime launched an attack on Turkish soldiers in Idlib, resulting in the death of nine Turkish military personnel on February 27, 2020. The following day, Turkey announced its decision to open its borders to refugees heading to Europe, reversing its previous policy of border closure since 2016. This move is interpreted as Turkey's strategy to increase pressure on NATO and the European Union regarding the situation in Iblid and the demand for a no-fly zone. This paper focuses on analyzing the repercussions of the EU-Turkey Joint Action Plan and its implementation, the escalation of tensions leading to the opening of the Turkish border, and the potential use of Syrian refugees as pawns in a political standoff.

Analysis of Turkey's Cybersecurity Strategies: Historical Developments, Scope, Content and Objectives

Cybersecurity is regarded as a crucial part of overall national security. A national cybersecurity strategy (NCSS) offers direction and a framework for national cybersecurity-related concerns and initiatives. Many nations have devised their own plans to defend against attacks, reduce risks, discourage attackers, and provide a secure and accessible cyberspace to promote innovation, the economy, commerce, and wealth. In order to assist the countries in developing their plans, organizations like the ITU, ENISA, OECD, NATO, e-Governance Academy and Oxford University issued research and advice publications based on the best practices from various countries. The assessment of the scope, objective, and content of Turkish national cybersecurity strategies is limited in academic literature. The studies in the literature that gathered multinational NCSS attributes from various countries and served as a guide for the development of national cybersecurity strategies were examined through a comprehensive literature review in order to assess Turkey's strategies in terms of scope, content, and objectives. Following the development of assessment criteria based on these studies and research, a qualitative study was carried out to evaluate and ascertain the degree of conformity of Turkish cybersecurity strategies with the criteria. The historical context of Turkey's cybersecurity strategies was explored in this article, along with strategy revisions, evaluations of the strategies' scope, content, and objectives, and gaps that should be filled to make the strategies more effective.

Growth regimes, dominant social blocs and growth strategies: towards varieties of export-led growth regimes and strategies in Turkey and Poland

This paper aims to contribute to the literature on growth regimes by combining an operationalization of growth regimes based on growth contributions and sectoral financial balances with an analysis of dominant social blocs (DSBs). We propose the concept of a growth strategy to bridge the political and actor-oriented sphere with the macroeconomic sphere. We employ this framework to analyze the cases of Poland and Turkey. The study identifies a transition from a domestic demand-led regime to a weakly export-led regime in Poland, while Turkey experienced a shift from a domestic demand-led regime to a debt-led private demand regime and subsequently towards a weakly export-led regime, too. Both countries’ new DSBs pursue export-led growth strategies, but Poland’s strategy focuses on non-price competitiveness while Turkey relies on price competitiveness. We lay out the differences between the strategies in terms of policies and the capital fractions supporting them.

Developing basin-specific emission factors for accurate methane inventory and emission reduction strategies in Zonguldak Coal Basin, Turkey: Implications for enhancing safety and sustainability

This study develops basin-specific emission factors using historical coal production and methane emissions data to enhance methane inventories and emission reduction strategies in Turkey's Zonguldak Coal Basin. The basin is known for high levels of coal mine methane (CMM) emissions, posing a serious safety hazard to miners and affecting mine productivity. However, limited data on in-situ parameters related to Coal Mine Methane (CMM) emissions have been available. The study analyzes historical trends in CMM emissions (1980–2020) from the basin's underground coal mines, revealing declining emissions alongside coal production. Over this period, approximately 2.28 billion cubic meters of CMM were released. Continued historical coal production rates suggest a significant 6.63 MWe power generation potential. The investigation into coal production, average mining depth, and coal seam gas content reveal that CMM emissions primarily depend on coal production and mining depth. Utilizing available methane mitigation technologies could prevent an estimated 55.7 million tons of methane annually (equivalent to around 692,000 tons of CO2e). Importantly, the study calculates basin-specific emission factors (ranging from 7.24 m3/t to 21.66 m3/t) based on historical measurements, providing a more accurate regional representation than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) default values. These factors are vital for identifying high-emission areas and guiding emission reduction strategy development. This study addresses a critical data gap in Turkey's estimation of methane emissions from underground coal mining, particularly in the Zonguldak coal basin. It establishes a foundation for future research on methane emissions from coal mines at various scales, contributing to improved understanding, emissions mitigation, safety enhancement, and sustainable coal mining practices.

The effect of government support on global branding strategies: Evidence from Turkey

This study investigates how government support affects branding strategies in Turkey. As the metodology, interviews were used focus group interviews to elicit the managers' thoughts. Drawing upon a focus group interview containing one Turkish carpet company that is in the TURQUALITY program from 2019 to 2022, the effect of government support on local brands to become global brands’ ability has been investigated. The results show that senior management support is needed to prepare the company’s plan, and the importance of increasing the use of digital sales as well as traditional channels should be included among the targets. Another important conclusion suggested by our results is that government incentives would suffice to drive internationalization and sales success. Beyond that, the most significant contributions to companies' marketing and brand performances by government support are increasing the international sales compound annual growth rate and shifting the company from a production-focused to a marketing-focused company.

Could the Aftermath of Catastrophe be Less Annihilating? Examining the Severity of Earthquakes in Line with Various Mitigation Strategies in Turkey

Could the Aftermath of Catastrophe be Less Annihilating? Examining the Severity of Earthquakes in Line with Various Mitigation Strategies in Turkey

Advanced thermodynamics analysis for sustainable residential sector: a case study of Turkish residential sector.

Energy sustainability plays a crucial role in the development of any country. With the booming economy of Turkey, it is necessary to ensure energy sustainability in every sector. The residential sector plays a vital role in energy consumption in Turkey and improving sustainability in this sector can foster Turkey's development. This study introduced first-time sustainability indicators of Turkey's residential sector to determine the energy and exergy analyses through a thermodynamics-derived approach based on the data from 2000 to 2017. Monte Carlo simulations have been performed for energy source variation. Possible distribution uncertainties show that natural gas (0.78-0.76), biofuels, and waste (0.39-0.43) are dominant parameters for energy and exergy. Improvement of biofuels and waste, renewable-based energy sources can be a feasible solution for fossil fuel replacement. In Turkey's residential sector, energy efficiency varies from 27.51 to 35.65%, while exergy efficiency ranges from 25.85 to 34.06%. The sustainability index for Turkey ranges from 1.34 to 1.51. In Turkey, around 65.93 to 74.14% of fossil fuel has been depleted in the last 18years, which leads to lesser exergetic sustainability. Inefficient cooking, heating appliances, and lighting devices lead to higher exergy loss. Therefore, this study demonstrates the exergy analysis and prediction of the upcoming consequences of this analysis. In the future, Turkey can use higher efficient devices, especially in heating, lighting, and mechanical energy-related appliances, and electricity can be used to attain higher exergetic efficiency. Performed analysis and uncertainties of parameters will assist policymakers in selecting suitable alternative strategies in Turkey's residential sector for sustainable decision-making.

Erdogan's Foreign Policy Against Kurds in Syria: A Turkish Military and Political Strategy

The situation in the Middle East is complicated by the need for Turkey to formulate a new military and political strategy . Relations between the Kurds and Turkey since the collapse of the Ottoman caliphate have been strained by the Kurds' desire for autonomous power. Until now, Kurds are still struggling to gain this legitimacy and are transforming into radical and separatist groups. Turkey under Erdogan's leadership underwent political reform from secular to democratic Islam. This includes changing Turkey's strategy to deal with Kurdish militias in Syria because Kurdish militias in Syria are considered dangerous by forming the PKK. The PKK occupies Syria's border with Turkey, so Erdogan devised a special military and political- strategic framework to stem the power of Kurdish militias. Since Turkey was ruled by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's foreign policy has used the concept of "strategic depth" which is essential "zero problems with neighbors". Turkey in the Erdogan era tries to represent a modern and Muslim country that encourages democracy and social justice. This affected the perspective and strategy of Turkey being used to paralyze the Kurds. In the political strategy, Turkey conducts relations with various state and non-state actors to be able to exert influence at the international level. This research aims to know how Erdogan’s foreign policy against Kurd in Syria. This research method is using normative legal research with data analyzing using case approach. This research will explain on; a) The conflict between Turkey and Kurds, b) Characteristics of Erdogan's Government, c) Turkey's Involvement in the Syrian Conflict. This research finding will be the discussion analysis on Turkey's Military and Political Strategy against Kurds in Syria and Implications of Military and Political Strategy.

A Logistics Model Suggestion for A Logistics Centre to Be Established: An Application in Aegean and Central Anatolia Region

The fact that the transport costs directly affect the countries’ economies all around the world and that the transport costs increase depending on the energy resources steered the countries into developing combined transport strategies that will decrease the transport costs. In this study, an assessment is made for the selection of locations of the logistics centers which will contribute to decreasing the transport costs, develop logistics sector strategies in Turkey, and thereby enable to identify the strategies for the fastest, safest, and the most economic transport utilizing integration of modes of transport with each other. Nonetheless, an integrated logistics model which includes freight capacity and selection of the optimum location is proposed for the efficient and useful logistics center. In this logistics model, a freight model, which is a criterion for optimal location selection, has been obtained by using regression analysis. According to this freight model, freight carrying capacity is determined for each alternative region. Optimum location selection has been made utilizing AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process)-VIKOR (Vise Kriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje) method. We aim to contribute to the literature by making systematically estimating variable carrying capacities and by being decisive in the logistics center location selection. The proposed logistics model has been applied for a logistics center to be established, and effective and valid results have been obtained.

The effects of shading devices on office building energy performance in Mediterranean climate regions

Fixed shading devices (SDs) are still used as an essential and useful element in architectural design. Even with minor changes to be made when designing these devices, the energy performance of a building, especially in hot climate regions, can be significantly increased. In contrast to studies using one or a few parameters, this study aimed to make a comprehensive evaluation by considering more parameters simultaneously to determine energy-efficient fixed external SD scenarios that can be used in office buildings. This approach increases the accuracy of the results in terms of providing trade-offs. This study also aims to fill the gap of the research on SD strategies in Turkey. A total of 1485 scenarios were created with fixed external SDs (overhangs, horizontal and vertical louvers, and egg-crate variations) using the parameters of direction, glazing type, window-to-wall ratio (WWR), SD depth, and slope. Primary energy consumption values of all scenarios were calculated with the DesignBuilder software. Results were discussed according to the impact of each parameter on energy consumption and evaluated through descriptive statistical analysis. As a result, energy-efficient scenarios were determined. The best scenarios obtained for each SD type reduced the cooling energy consumption by between 37% and 49% compared to the no shading scenario using high-performance glazing type and by between 73% and 78% compared to the no shading scenario using low-performance glazing type. The total annual energy consumption was reduced by approximately 33% and 70%, respectively.

Forced Migration as a Crisis in Masculinity: A Sociological Approach to Refugee Men’s Remasculinization Strategies in Turkey

AbstractThis article focuses on the changes in masculinity identity caused by forced migration and remasculinization strategies developed by men against this situation. This qualitative study sets out the idea that forced migration causes the dramatic changes in gender roles, especially in the identity of masculinity. In this context, data were collected from 15 male refugees who flee from different countries to Turkey through semi-structured interviews. According to the data, forced migration refers to a crisis in masculinity that shook the power of some men. Men cannot perform the various roles that traditionally attributed to masculine identity, due to poverty and unemployment they face by displacement. In the face of this situation, some men try to reconstruct and regain their power and masculinity identity by developing different remasculinization strategies. These are realized by emphasizing the roles of hegemonic masculinity that men can perform in the process of forced migration.

Three Contexts As The Post-Migration Ecology For Refugees: School Principals’ Challenges And Strategies In Turkey, Lebanon, And Germany

ABSTRACT This article seeks to compare and analyze school-level challenges for school leaders and their responses to Syrian refugee education in Turkey, Lebanon, and Germany, drawing on the post-migration ecology framework developed and sensemaking processes in leadership. We utilized a comparative qualitative design within the realm of qualitative research. Findings revealed that the challenges are similar across the three contexts and are categorized into three domains: structural, psychological, and socio-pedagogical. School leaders’ strategies in addressing these challenges fell into three different groups as ethics of care, principal agency, and sense making. In their strategies, all school principals are driven by ethics of care and act from a humanitarian stance, and they try to provide a better future for the Syrian students as well as the host country’s students. However, the German education system provides greater autonomy to the school leaders in their implementations. In the Turkish and Lebanese cases, school leaders rely more on their discretion and personal values in their attempts, yet their authority is legally limited in taking further action. Further conclusions and implications are discussed.

Economic Analysis of Increasing Foot-and-Mouth Disease Vaccination Frequency: The Case of the Biannual Mass Vaccination Strategy.

Biannual mass vaccination is a routinely applied foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) control strategy in Turkey. However, because biannual mass vaccination may leave significant immunity gaps, this strategy may cause economic losses because of possible FMD infections. In high-risk areas—such as border cities, it was suggested by the government to increase the vaccination intervals in order to decrease the FMD infection risk. This study analyses and compares the economic effects of a biannual mass vaccination regime and vaccination every 4 months as an alternative strategy in border cities by using partial budgeting approach. Biannual mass vaccination was used as a baseline scenario. Data on the impact of FMD on animal health and production parameters for 2018 were obtained from the OIE-WAHIS system and complemented by literature data and expert opinion. In the partial budgeting model, weight loss was considered as a major loss of income because majority of the farming systems are based on cattle fattening in the border cities of Turkey. Results revealed that the net economic impact, which is the benefit that exceeds the losses and costs of increasing the frequency of vaccination, is 76.4 TL ($15.9) per cattle. The sensitivity analysis showed that average body weight and weight losses when infected had more effect on net impact changes than market prices. The lower and upper FMD incidence variability resulted in 19.2 TL ($4) and 190.8 TL ($39.6) of net impact per cattle, respectively. The new FMD control strategy would make a total net economic impact of 5,274,836 TL ($1,094,250) for a population of 800,970 fattening cattle in border cities. The results of this study indicated that intense FMD control strategies may be more cost effective than the current control strategies, especially in high-risk areas. Future studies with more comprehensive epidemiological and economic data must be conducted to analyze and compare alternative FMD control strategies in Turkey.

Hegemonic and Counter-Hegemonic Strategies in Turkey through the Lens of “Road Politics”: Fatsa Experience

Türkiye’de karayolu yapımı, 1950’li yıllardan itibaren öne çıkan ulaştırma politikası olmaya başlamıştır. Bu durum, çok partili yaşama geçilmesiyle birlikte, siyasal partilerin seçmen kitleleriyle kurdukları ilişkiyi de dönüştürmüştür. Yol yapım ağı şehirlerde genişlerken, nüfusun çoğunluğunun yaşadığı kırsal bölgeler yol yapım süreçlerinden yeterli payı alamamıştır. Bu tablo, özellikle 1960’ların ikinci yarısından itibaren Türkiye’de yükselen toplumsal mücadele deneyimlerinin de etkisiyle, sağ ve sol parti ve hareketlerin yol yapımı konusunu hegemonya ve karşı hegemonya mücadelesi açısından daha fazla değerlendirmesine de yol açmıştır. Yine bu çerçevede, 1960’ların ikinci yarısından itibaren köylülerin ilk kez toplumsal mücadelede öne çıkmaya başlamasıyla birlikte yol talebi de görünürleşmeye başlamıştır. 1967’de Fatsa’nın Beyceli Köyü’nden Ordu’ya, yol talebiyle başlayan yürüyüş bu tablonun ürünüdür. Mücadele repertuarı genişledikçe, yol sorunu karşı hegemonya üretiminde daha da merkezileşmiş, sol siyasetler 1970’lerin ikinci yarısında gerek merkezi gerek yerel yönetimler eliyle bu soruna çözüm aramıştır. 1979’da yine Fatsa’da yerel yönetim eliyle başlatılan ‘Çamura Son Kampanyası’ da bu bağlamda önemlidir. Bütün bunlar, Türkiye’de “yol yapımı” gündemi etrafında örülen hegemonyanın daima sağ siyasetlerin tekelinde gelişmediğinin kanıtıdır. Makale bu ayrımın anlaşılabilmesi için Türkiye’deki sağ popülist iktidarların yol yapım gündemi etrafında kurdukları maddi ve siyasal hegemonya ilişkilerine de karşılaştırmalı olarak bakmakta ve bu doğrultuda, sol ve sağ hareketlerin hegemonya stratejilerini “yol siyaseti” üzerinden tartışmaktadır.

Keeping the Soldiers at Bay: Coup‐Proofing Strategies in Turkey

Keeping the Soldiers at Bay: Coup‐Proofing Strategies in Turkey

Integrated social and health care services among societies in transition: Insights from Turkey

Societies experiencing rapid demographic transition may expect to face challenges such as accelerated population aging and increasing care-related needs. Decentralization of welfare states and resultant fragmentation of services is gaining increasing attention. In this study, we offer suggestions of how developing countries might move from fragmentation to integration of social and health care services. Using the Health Survey of Turkey (HST-2012) data with 15,000 households of populations' age 15 and older, we explore challenges to integrating social and health care service strategies in Turkey. Findings include inequities in material and service accessibility between rural and urban settings. Increasing numbers of older widowed women, especially in rural environments, will require direct income assistance over the coming decades. Additional findings include the need for primary and preventative health care services for middle age groups and strategies to address both unemployment among younger generations and barriers to work force participation for women. In conclusion, among rapid transition societies, it will take time to resolve decentralization-related regional inequalities in social and health services. Therefore, information and communications technologies (ICT) should be employed from an intersectionality perspective to more quickly bridge the services integration – regional inequalities gap in Turkey and possibly other societies in transition.

Forecasting Banana Harvest Area and Production in Turkey Using Time Series Analysis

In this study, 1961–2015 period FAOSTAT data of banana harvest area and production in Turkey was modeled with the objective to forecast banana harvest area and production for the 2016–2025 period. Stationarity was provided with taking the first difference of the time series. Several Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA (0,1,1), ARIMA (1,1,0) and ARIMA (1,1,1)) and Exponential Smoothing (Holt, Brown and Damped) models were tested. Brown exponential smoothing model was determined as the most suitable one for forecasting banana harvest area and production. Banana harvest area was forecasted to be 6175 ha in 2016 and increase to 9733 ha in 2025 year. Banana production was predicted to show a substantial increase for the 2016–2025 period, from 291,667 to 482,093 t. Briefly, the results of this study could help policy makers to develop better macro-level policies for food security and sustainability, as well as to establish better banana planting area and production strategies in Turkey for the future.