Avrupa'da Güvenliğin Sağlanmasında Türkiye'nin Rolü

Year 2025, Volume: 20 Issue: 2, 566 - 584, 27.12.2025

Hakan Ömer Tunca

https://doi.org/10.48145/gopsbad.1620459

Abstract

Güvenlik fikri erken dönemlerden beri hem toplumsal hem de kişisel bağlamlarda evrimleşmiştir. Avrupa kıtası Soğuk Savaş'tan, iki büyük küresel savaştan ve bu çatışmaların tüm olumsuz etkilerinden geçmiştir. Bunun sonucunda Avrupa, bir Güvenlik ve Savunma Politikası geliştirme gerekliliğini fark etmiştir. Avrupa Birliği (AB) üye devletleri ve üçüncü ülkelerin iş birliğiyle Avrupa kıtası bu politikayı yürütmeye çalışmaktadır. Bu makale, coğrafi konumuna odaklanarak Türkiye'nin Avrupa güvenliğine katkısını araştıracaktır. Bu makale, Avrupa ile Asya’nın kesişim noktasındaki coğrafi konumuna odaklanarak Türkiye’nin Avrupa güvenliğine katkısını inceleyecektir. Çalışma, AB tarihinin kilometre taşı niteliğindeki parlamento tartışmaları, Komisyon ve Konsey raporları, Türkiye’ye ilişkin ilerleme değerlendirmeleri ve Gündem 2000 gibi stratejik çerçevelere dayalı açıklayıcı nitel bir yaklaşım benimsemektedir. Türkiye’yi yalnızca bir çözüm sağlayıcı olarak sunmak yerine, çalışmada Türkiye’nin coğrafi konumu, NATO üyeliği ve demografik yapısının AB’nin gelişen güvenlik kaygılarıyla nasıl kesiştiği araştırılmaktadır. Hem fırsatları hem de kısıtlılıkları analiz ederek, çalışma Türkiye’nin potansiyel katkılarını ve Avrupa güvenlik yönetişimindeki rolünü şekillendiren kurumsal zorlukları ortaya koymaktadır.

Keywords

Avrupa Güvenliği , Avrupa , Türkiye , NATO , Güvenlik

The Role of Türkiye in Ensuring Security in Europe

Abstract

Since the early periods, the idea of security has evolved in both societal and personal contexts. The continent of Europe has been through the Cold War, two great global wars, and all the negative effects of those conflicts. Consequently, Europe realized that guaranteeing its security through the development of a Security and Defence Policy. With the collaboration of European Union (EU) member states and third countries, the European continent is attempting to carry out this policy. This paper will investigate the contribution of Türkiye to European security, with a focus on its geographical positioning at the intersection of Europe and Asia. This study examines the role of Türkiye in European security through an explanatory qualitative approach, focusing on EU milestone documents such as parliamentary debates, Commission and Council reports, progress evaluations on Türkiye, and strategic frameworks like Agenda 2000. Rather than presenting Türkiye solely as a solution-provider, the paper investigates how Türkiye’s geographical position, NATO membership, and demographic profile interact with EU security concerns. By analyzing both opportunities and constraints, the study highlights Türkiye’s potential contributions and the institutional challenges that shape its engagement with European security governance.

Keywords

European Security , Europe , Türkiye , NATO , Security

References

• Akçay, E. Y. (2024). Türkiye's policy of fighting the terrorist organization PKK after july 15: A turnaround from smart power to hard power. Turkish Studies-Economics, Finance, Politics, 19(1), 23-42.
• Alkan, H. (2021). The gift of hospitality and the (un) welcoming of Syrian migrants in Turkey. American Ethnologist, 48(2), 180-191.
• Altunışık, M. B. (2022). New turn in Turkey's foreign policy in the middle east: Regional and domestic insecurities. IAI Papers.
• Anagnostakis, D. (2021). The European Union-United States cybersecurity relationship: A transatlantic functional cooperation. Journal of Cyber Policy, 6(2), 243-261.
• Atanasiu, M. (2020). “Lone Wolves” Islamist terrorists as non-state actors and their impact on security policy of the European Union. Strategic Impact, (77), 100-125
• Atar, E. (2023). Understanding the Syrian refugee crises in Turkey: Perspectives from actors. Bloomsbury Publishing.
• Aydın, M. (2020). Grand strategizing in and for Turkish foreign policy: Lessons learned from history, geography and practice. Perceptions: Journal of International Affairs. 25(2), 203-226.
• Bagcı, H. and Gaudino, U. (2020). Involving Turkey in EU common foreign, security and defence policies. Eurasian Research Journal. 2(1), 7-27.
• Bantekas, I. (2020). The international law on terrorist financing. In B. Saul (Eds.), Research Handbook on International Law and Terrorism (pp. 97-108). Edward Elgar Publishing.
• Bardakçı, M. (2022). Turkey and the major powers in the eastern mediterranean crisis from the 2010s to the 2020s. Comparative Southeast European Studies. 70(3), 516-539. https://doi.org/10.1515/soeu-2021-0071
• Baser, B., Akgönül, S., and Öztürk, A. E. (2020). “Academics for Peace” in Turkey: A case of criminalising dissent and critical thought via counterterrorism policy. Critical Studies on Terrorism, 10(2), 274–296. https://doi.org/10.1080/17539153.2017.1326559
• Bashirov, G. and Yilmaz, I. (2020). The rise of transactionalism in international relations: Evidence from Turkey's relations with the European Union. Australian Journal of International Affairs, 74(2), 165–184. https://doi.org/10.1080/10357718.2019.1693495
• Baydemir, S. (2020). The critical dilemma of Turkish foreign policy in the 21st century between east and west: The repercussions of changing Turkish foreign policy on security. Mideast Security and Policy Studies No. 97. The Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies Bar-Ilan University.
• Bilgin, P. (2005). Turkey’s geopolitical role in post-cold war security architecture: NATO and the EU. Mediterranean Quarterly, 16(1), 55-75.
• Beruashvili, N. (2016). The need to adapt the EU security strategy to the new realities. JSS, 5(1), 31-34.
• Bölme, S. M. (2022). NATO-Türkiye Relations. Studia Europejskie – Studies in European Affairs, 3, 93-116. https://doi.org/10.33067/SE.3.2022.5
• Böröcz, M. (2021). Tacling irregular migration in Europe. Contemporary Military Challenges, 23(2), 91-104.
• Buhai, R. D. (2021). Relevant actors and interdependences in regional security: EU-Turkey relationship. Strategic Impact, 79, 23-40.
• Christofis, N. (2022). Securitizing the Aegean: de-Europeanizing Greek–Turkish relations. Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 22(1), 83–100. https://doi.org/10.1080/14683857.2022.2027679 CoEDAT, 2024, https://www.coedat.nato.int/index.html
• Cross, M. (2017). Counter-terrorism in the EU’s external relations. Journal of European Integration, 39(5), 609-624.
• Clément, M., Geis, A., and Pfeifer, H. (2021). Recognising armed non-state actors: Risks and opportunities for conflict transformation. Manchester University Press.
• Coletti, R. and Chiodi, L. (2024). EU macro-regional strategy in the Adriatic and Ionian region: A territorial perspective on the EU enlargement policy. Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 27(3), 392–411. https://doi.org/10.1080/19448953.2024.2379667
• Council of the European Union. (2004). Presidency Conclusions. Brussels: Council of the EU.
• Council of the European Union. (2016). EU–Turkey Statement, 18 March 2016. Brussels: Council of the EU.
• Çakar, N. D., Gedikli, A., Erdoğan, S., and Yıldırım, D. Ç. (2021). Exploring the nexus between human capital and environmental degradation: The case of EU countries. Journal of Environmental Management, 295, 113057. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.113057
• Çakır, O. D., and Chasnouski, M. E. (2020). Turkey in NATO: An extraordinary position. Journal of the Belarusian State University. International Relations, 2, 62-70.
• Çetinkaya, Ş. (2020). Turkey's fight against ISIS In the Context of the historical development of terrorism: Example of foreign terrorist fighters. IBAD Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, (6), 145-160. https://doi.org/10.21733/ibad.656185
• Dal, E. P. (2020). Assessing Turkey's changing conflict management role after the Cold War: Actorness, approaches and tools. Third World Quarterly, 39(12), 2291–2314. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2018.1522956
• Danforth, N. (2021). The remaking of republican Turkey: Memory and modernity since the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108973779
• Demirgüç-Kunt, A. and Torre, I. (2022). Measuring human capital in middle income countries. Journal of Comparative Economics, 50(4), 1036-1067. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jce.2022.05.007
• Dempsey, K. and McDowell, S. (2019). Disaster depictions and geopolitical representations in Europe’s migration ‘crisis’. Geoforum, 98, 153-160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2018.11.008
• Eldem, T. (2021). Spotlight Turkey: A Pivotal swing state in NATO. Digest of Middle East Studies, 30(1), 34-52. https://doi.org/10.1111/dome.12223
• Erdoğan, S., and Tabak, H. (2022). A negating condition (ality)–the EU migration externalization and Turkey. In C. Çakmak & A.O. Özçelik (Ed.). EU Conditionality in Turkey: When Does It Work? When Does It Fail? (pp. 171–190). Lanham: Lexington Books. Retrieved December 22, 2025, from http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781666991260.ch-9
• European Commission. (1997). Agenda 2000: For a stronger and wider Union. Brussels: European Commission.
• European Commission. (2001). 2001 Regular Report on Turkey’s Progress Towards Accession. Brussels: European Commission.
• European Commission. (2002). 2002 Regular Report on Turkey’s Progress Towards Accession. Brussels: European Commission.
• European Commission. (2003). European Energy Security Strategy. Brussels: European Commission.
• European Commission. (2004). 2004 Regular Report on Turkey’s Progress Towards Accession. Brussels: European Commission.
• European Commission. (2005). 2005 Progress Report on Turkey. Brussels: European Commission.
• European Council. (2002). Seville European Council: Presidency Conclusions. Brussels: European Council.
• European Parliament. (1999). Debates on the situation in Kosovo. Strasbourg: European Parliament.
• European Parliament. (2001). Debates on EU–NATO relations after 9/11. Strasbourg: European Parliament.
• European Parliament. (2002). Debates on EU–Turkey cooperation against terrorism. Strasbourg: European Parliament.
• European Parliament. (2006). Debates on Turkey’s accession and demographic challenges. Strasbourg: European Parliament.
• European Parliament. (2007). Debates on the Nabucco pipeline project. Strasbourg: European Parliament.
• European Parliament. (2014). Debates on the EU–Turkey Readmission Agreement. Strasbourg: European Parliament.
• Fedeli, V., Lenzi, C., Briata, P., and Pedrazzini, L. (2020). Regions and macro-regions in European territorial cooperation: Today and 2021+. EU Regional and Urban Policy: Innovations and Experiences from the 2014–2020 Programming Period, 29-48.
• Grigorescu, A., Pelinescu, E., Ion, A. E., and Dutcas, M. F. (2021). Human capital in digital economy: An empirical analysis of central and eastern European countries from the European Union. Sustainability, 13(4), 2020. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13042020
• Gürkan, S. and Coman, R. (2021). The EU–Turkey deal in the 2015 'refugee crisis': when intergovernmentalism cast a shadow on the EU's normative power. Acta Polit, 56, 276–305 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41269-020-00184-2
• Hanson, M. (2020). State sponsorship: an impediment to the global fight against terrorism. Groningen Journal of International Law, 7(2), 132-144. https://doi.org/10.21827/GroJIL.7.2.132-144
• Heiss, M. A. (2024). Presidential cold war doctrines: What are they good for? Diplomatic History, 48, (1), 1–19, https://doi.org/10.1093/dh/dhad067
• Hu, G., Yang, J., and Li, J. (2022). The dynamic evolution of global energy security and geopolitical games: 1995~2019. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(21), 14584.
• İrdem, İ. (2021). Terrorist organizations exploiting religion within the scope. Security Issues in the Context of Political Violence and Terrorism of the 21st Century, 176.
• Javadi, M. (2023). The European Union as a global counter-terrorism actor. Journal of Contemporary European Studies, 31(3), 1043-1045.
• Kaya, S. and Spencer, A. (2019). Turkey’s Counterterrorism Policy and European Security: Threats and Cooperation. Journal of Terrorism Research, 10(2), 45-56.
• Kaya, A. (2020). Reception: Turkey country report. Global Migration: Consequences and Responses – Working Paper Series.
• Kaya, A., Rottmann, S., Gökalp-Aras, N. E., and Şahin-Mencütek, Z. (2021). Turkey: Border Management, Protection, Reception, and Integration of Refugees. In (eds) Soner Barthoma and A. Önver Cetrez Responding to migration: A holistic perspective on migration governance, Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, 187-208.
• Kirişci, K. (2020). The Kurdish Issue in Turkey: Limits of European Union Reform. Turkey and the EU: Accession and Reform.South European Society and Politics, 16(2), 335–349. https://doi.org/10.1080/13608746.2011.577954
• Kowalczewska, K., and Łubiński, P. (2022). Legality of the Turkish military operations in Syria. Problemy Współczesnego Prawa Międzynarodowego, Europejskiego i Porównawczego, 20, 55-83.
• Knutsen, B. (2022). A weakening transatlantic relationship? Redefining the EU–USs security and defence cooperation. Politics and Governance, 10(2), 165-175.
• Kul, C., Zhang, L., and Solangi, Y. A. (2020). Assessing the renewable energy investment risk factors for sustainable development in Turkey. Journal of Cleaner Production, 276, 124164 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.124164
• Lippert, B. (2021). Turkey as a special and (almost) dead case of EU enlargement policy. In (Eds.) Reiners, W., Turhan, E. EU-Turkey Relations. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70890-0_11
• Maris, G., Flouros, F., and Galariotis, I. (2022). The changing security landscape in south-eastern mediterranean: Assessing Turkey’s strategies as a rising power. Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 24(5), 795-814.
• May, S. (2021). Islamic charity: How charitable giving became seen as a threat to national security. Zed Books.
• Meissner, K. (2023). Caught up by geopolitics: Sanctions and the EU’s response to Russia’s war against Ukraine. The Economists Voice, 20(2), 275-283.
• Mukhtarov, S., Yüksel, S., and Dinçer, H. (2022). The impact of financial development on renewable energy consumption: Evidence from Turkey. Renewable Energy.
• Müftüler-Baç, M. (2020). Turkey and the European Union refugee deal: Assessing Turkish migration policies and the external protection of European borders. Working Paper, MAGYC project.
• Müftüler-Baç, M. (2020). Turkish foreign policy, its domestic determinants and the role of the European Union. Turkey and the EU: Accession and Reform. South European Society and Politics, 16(2), 279–291. https://doi.org/10.1080/13608746.2011.577947
• Ostrowski, W. (2020). The twenty years’ crisis of European energy security: Central and eastern Europe and the us. Geopolitics, 27(3), 875-897.
• Ott, A. (2017). EU-Turkey cooperation in migration matters: a game changer in a multi-layered relationship? Centre for the Law of EU External Relations, 2017/40.
• Özkan, A. C. (2022). The role of external actors in the securitisation of asylum and migration in the EU and their impacts on the EU's normative power.
• Özlü, H. (2022). The foundation and development of Turkey's defense industry in the context of national security strategy. Perceptions, 26(2), 216-240.
• Peers, S. (2024). EU Justice and Home Affairs Law: Volume II: EU Criminal Law, Policing, and Civil Law. Oxford European Union Law Library.
• Philliou, C. M. (2021). Turkey: A past against history. University of California Press.
• Phillips, J. and Smith, J. (2024). Non-State Actors. The Heritage Foundation. https://www.heritage.org/military-strength/assessing-threats-us-vital-interests/non-state-actors
• Pries, L., and Zülfikar Savci, B. S. (2023). Between humanitarian assistance and externalizing of EU borders: The EU-Turkey deal and refugee related organizations in Turkey. Journal on Migration and Human Security, 11(1), 57-74.
• Raszewski, S. (2022). When one door closes, another opens: How the failure of the Turkey-Austria natural gas pipeline project has led to recovery, resilience and scalability of successor projects. Energy Policy, 167, 112978.
• Reimer-Burgrova, H. (2022). “War on Terror” in Turkey and Syria. In Helena Reimer-Burgrova (Eds.) Politics of Violence and Fear in MENA. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83932-1_6
• Saatçioğlu, B. (2020). The European Union's refugee crisis and rising functionalism in EU-Turkey relations. Turkish Studies, 21(2), 169–187. https://doi.org/10.1080/14683849.2019.1586542
• Sert, H. (2020). Turkey and The European union: Differentiated integration from a security angle. Master thesis. https://research.sabanciuniv.edu/id/eprint/41274/1/10337674_Sert_Hilal.pdf
• San, S. (2022). Transnational policing between national political regimes and human rights norms: The case of the Interpol red notice system. Theoretical Criminology, 26(4), 601-619. https://doi.org/10.1177/13624806221105280
• Starzyńska, D. (2023). Development of renewable energy in view of energy security—the study of the photovoltaic market in Poland. Energies, 16(19), 6992. https://doi.org/10.3390/en16196992
• Steinberg, F. (2023). Dealing with Europe’s economic (in‐)security. Global Policy, 15(1), 183-192.
• Smith, M. (2018). Transatlantic security relations since the european security strategy: what role for the eu in its pursuit of strategic autonomy? Journal of European Integration, 40(5), 605-620.
• Turhan, E., and Wessels, W. (2021). The European Council as a key driver of EU–Turkey relations: Central functions, internal dynamics, and evolving preferences. In EU-Turkey Relations: Theories, Institutions, and Policies (pp. 185-217). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
• Trauner, F., and Turhan, E. (2020). EU-Turkey Relations in Times of Crisis: A Transformation in the Field of Migration and Border Management. Journal of European Integration, 42(5), 653-668.
• Uzgel, I. (2021). Turkey’s Role in NATO and its Contributions to Global Security. Journal of International Security Studies, 32(3), 45-62.
• Üstübici, A., Kirişçioğlu, E., and Elçi, E. (2021). Migration and development: Measuring migration aspirations and the impact of refugee assistance in Turkey. ADMIGOV Deliverable.