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Transformative Conflict Resolution in an Unstable Neighbourhood: Turkey’s Conflict Resolution Efforts in the Middle East

Year 2013, Volume: 18 Issue: 4, 171 - 194, 01.01.2013

Abstract

Turkey had pursued a foreign policy in the Middle East that focused on transformative conflict resolution until the beginning of the “Arab Spring”. This transformative conflict resolution approach had aimed at bringing holistic and systemic change to the entire region. Turkish foreign policy had aimed at transforming the conflict-producing structures, tried to engage positively with the actors and elites and attempted to change the securitydominated agenda into a multi-dimensional agenda. Despite the dominant discourse of the transformative conflict resolution, in practice the most effective conflict resolution methods and tools that Turkey utilised during this period fell under the management approaches. Turkey’s normative concerns and priorities did not overlap with the priorities of other influential actors in the region. Furthermore the gap between transformative discourse and management practice has widened since Turkey became involved more directly with ongoing crises in the region

References

  • Ahmet Davutoğlu, “Türkiye Merkez Ülke Olmalı”, Radikal, 26 February 2004. Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmet Davutoğlu has challenged the frequently used bridge metaphor that locates Turkey between the East and West, Europe and Asia. Davutoğlu instead emphasises the metaphor of a “centre country”, which signifies an important change in Turkey’s new foreign policy. See, Lerna K. Yanık, “The Metamorphosis of Metaphors of Vision: ‘Bridging’ Turkey’s Location, Role and Identity after the End of the Cold War”, Geopolitics, Vol. 14, No. 3 (2009), pp. 531-549.
  • Several terms are used to define the “field”, including “conflict resolution” (CR) “conflict transformation”, “conflict management” and “peace studies”. In this study, I prefer to use CR, which is the earliest and most widely accepted term to define the discipline. In this study, I further distinguish between “CR” and “conflict resolution” in order to avoid confusion. The former is used to denote the discipline, while the latter is used to denote the practice.
  • In the popular and academic literatures, the term “Arab Spring” is frequently used to denote the series of political transformations in the Middle East and North Africa, which started with the popular revolts in Tunisia in December 2010. I have adopted this term because it is the one most commonly used to define the ongoing political transformation in the MENA region.
  • Johannes Botes, “Structural Transformation”, in Daniel Druckman, Larissa Fast and Sandra I. Cheldelin (eds.), Conflict: From Analysis to Intervention, London, Continuum, 2003, pp. 269-290.
  • Christopher Mitchell, “Beyond Resolution: What Does Conflict Transformation Actually Transform”, Peace and Conflict Studies, Vol. 9, No. 1 (2002), pp. 1-23.
  • David Bloomfield and Ben Reilly, “The Changing Nature of Conflict and Conflict Management”, in Peter Harris and Ben Reilly (eds.), Democracy and Deep-Rooted Conflict: Options for Negotiators, Stockholm, International IDEA, 1998, pp. 7-28.
  • Dan Snodderly, Peace Terms: Glossary of Terms for Conflict Management and Peacebuilding, Washington DC, USIP, 2011, p. 15. 9 Ibid.
  • Yeni Kimliği ve Çatışma Çözümlerini Keşfi”, in Burhanettin Duran, Kemal İnat and Mesut
  • Özcan, Türk Dış Politikası Yıllığı 2010, Ankara, SETA Yayınları, 2011, pp. 621-661.
  • Fidan and Nurdun, “Turkey’s Role in the Global Development Assistance Community”.
  • “Turkey to Host UN Summit on Least Developed Countries”, Ahram Online, 12 April 2011, at host-UN-summit-on-least-developed-countr.aspx [last visited 1 July 2012].
  • According to Öniş and Yılmaz, the period between 1 March 2003 and 5 November 2007 marked the lowest period in Turkish-American relations since the 1975-1978 embargo. See, Ziya Öniş and Şuhnaz Yılmaz, “Between Europeanization and Euroasianism: Foreign Policy Activism in Turkey During the AKP Era”, Turkish Studies, Vol. 10, No. 1 (2009), pp. 7-24.
  • “Davutoğlu: Gazze Saldırısı, Türkiye İsrail İlişkilerinde Dönüm Noktası Oldu”, Zaman, 1 December 2010.
  • “Turkish PM Opposed to Rasmussen’s NATO Bid”, FRANCE 24, 3 April 2009.
  • “2010 Arab Public Opinion Poll: Obama’s Popularity Decreases while Erdogan’s Popularity Increases”, zimbio.com, 10 August 2011.
  • Philip Gordon and Ömer Taşpınar, “Turkey on the Brink”, Washington Quarterly, Vol. 29, No. 3 (2006), pp. 57-70; James Kitfield, “Who Lost Turkey? Did Our NATO Ally Shift Its Allegiances After Deadly Attacks On Its Gaza Aid Shi, Or Has This Been Building Up”, at http://www.nationaljournal.com/njonline/ns_20100621_3616.php [last visited 7 July 2013].
  • Tarık Oğuzlu, “Middle Easternization of Turkey’s Foreign Policy: Does Turkey Dissociate from the West?”, Turkish Studies, Vol. 9, No. 1 (2008), pp. 3-20.
  • During the Turgut Özal presidency in the early 1990s, as well as during period when İsmail Cem was Foreign Minister (1997-2002), Turkey attempted to abandon its passive and security-oriented foreign-policy paradigm, but these attempts proved unsustainable due to its economic and political instabilities. See, Meliha Benli-Altunışık, “Worldviews and Turkish Foreign Policy in the Middle East”, New Perspectives on Turkey, Vol. 40 (Spring 2009), pp. 179-185.
  • Kerem Öktem, “Projecting Power: Non-Conventional Policy Actors in Turkey’s International Relations”, in Kerem Öktem, Ayşe Kadıoğlu and Mehmet Karlı (eds.), Another Empire? A Decade of Turkey’s Foreign Policy Under the Justice and Development Party, İstanbul, İstanbul Bilgi University Press, 2012, pp. 77-108.
  • Mensur Akgün and Sabiha Senyücel-Gündoğar, Ortadoğu’da Türkiye Algısı 2011, Istanbul, TESEV, 2012.
  • Mehmet Babacan, Whither Axis Shift: A Perspective from Turkey’s Foreign Trade, SETA Policy Report No. 4, Ankara, SETA, 2010; Kemal Kirişci and Neslihan Kaptanoğlu, “The Politics of Trade and Turkish Foreign Policy”, Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 47, No. 5 (September 2011), pp. 705-724.
  • Ahmet Sözen, “A Paradigm Shift in Turkish Foreign Policy: Transition and Challenges”, Turkish Studies, Vol. 11, No. 1 (March 2010), pp. 103-123.
  • Kemal Kirişci, “The Transformation of Turkish Foreign Policy: The Rise of the Trading State”, New Perspectives on Turkey, Vol. 40, No. 1 (Spring 2009), pp. 29-57.
  • Basheer M. Nafi, “The Arabs and Modern Turkey: A Century of Changing Perceptions”, Insight Turkey, Vol. 11, No. 1 (2009), pp. 63-82; Tarık Oğuzlu, “Soft Power in Turkish Foreign Policy”, Australian Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 61, No. 1 (March 2007), pp. 81-97.
  • Meliha Benli-Altunışık, “The Possibilities and Limits of Turkey’s Soft Power in the Middle East”, Insight Turkey, Vol. 10, No. 2 (2008), pp. 41-54; Oğuzlu, “Middle Easternization of Turkey’s Foreign Policy”.
  • Öktem, “Projecting Power”, Sadık Ünay, “Economic Diplomacy for Competitiveness: Globalization and Turkey’s New Foreign Policy”, Perceptions: Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 15, No. 3-4 (Autumn-Winter 2010), pp. 21-47.
  • Talha Köse, “The Alliance of Civilizations: Possibilities of Conflict Resolution at the Civilizational Level”, Insight Turkey, Vol. 11, No. 3 (2009), pp. 77-94; Ali Balcı and Nebi Miş, “Turkey’s Role in the Alliance of Civilizations: A New Perspective in Turkish Foreign Policy?”, Turkish Studies, Vol. 9, No. 3 (September 2008), pp. 387-406.
  • Karin Aggestam, “Internal and External Dynamics of Spoiling: A Negotiation Approach”, in Edward Newman and Oliver Richmond (eds.), Challenges to Peacebuilding: Managing Spoilers During Conflict Resolution, Tokyo, New York, United Nations University Press, 2006, pp. 23- 39.
  • Gürkan Zengin, Hoca: Türk Dış Politikası’nda Davutoğlu Etkisi, İstanbul, İnkilap Kitabevi, 2011, pp. 265-271.
  • Soner Çağaptay, “Is Turkey Leaving the West?”, Foreign Affairs, 26 October 2009.
  • Burak Ege Bekdil and Ümit Enginsoy, “Turkey To Have Triple Role in Libya Mission”, Defense News, 2011; “Irak İle Suriye’ye ‘Barışın’ Baskısı”, Radikal, 18 August 2009.
  • Ivan Watson and Mitra Mobasherat, “Turkey: Iran Nuclear Swap Offer Shows ‘Vision’”, at http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/05/18/iran.nuclear/ [last visited 22 August 2013].
  • Zengin, Hoca, pp. 265-271.
  • Akgün and Senyücel-Gündoğar, Ortadoğu’da Türkiye Algısı 2011.
  • Sözen, “A Paradigm Shift in Turkish Foreign Policy”.
  • Stephen Ryan, “Conflict Transformation: Reasons to be Modest”, in Dennis Sandole, Sean Byrne, Ingrid Sandole-Staroste and Jessica Senehi (eds.), Handbook of Conflict Analysis and Resolution, New York, Routledge, 2008, p. 305.
  • Çağaptay, “Is Turkey Leaving the West?”.
Year 2013, Volume: 18 Issue: 4, 171 - 194, 01.01.2013

Abstract

References

  • Ahmet Davutoğlu, “Türkiye Merkez Ülke Olmalı”, Radikal, 26 February 2004. Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmet Davutoğlu has challenged the frequently used bridge metaphor that locates Turkey between the East and West, Europe and Asia. Davutoğlu instead emphasises the metaphor of a “centre country”, which signifies an important change in Turkey’s new foreign policy. See, Lerna K. Yanık, “The Metamorphosis of Metaphors of Vision: ‘Bridging’ Turkey’s Location, Role and Identity after the End of the Cold War”, Geopolitics, Vol. 14, No. 3 (2009), pp. 531-549.
  • Several terms are used to define the “field”, including “conflict resolution” (CR) “conflict transformation”, “conflict management” and “peace studies”. In this study, I prefer to use CR, which is the earliest and most widely accepted term to define the discipline. In this study, I further distinguish between “CR” and “conflict resolution” in order to avoid confusion. The former is used to denote the discipline, while the latter is used to denote the practice.
  • In the popular and academic literatures, the term “Arab Spring” is frequently used to denote the series of political transformations in the Middle East and North Africa, which started with the popular revolts in Tunisia in December 2010. I have adopted this term because it is the one most commonly used to define the ongoing political transformation in the MENA region.
  • Johannes Botes, “Structural Transformation”, in Daniel Druckman, Larissa Fast and Sandra I. Cheldelin (eds.), Conflict: From Analysis to Intervention, London, Continuum, 2003, pp. 269-290.
  • Christopher Mitchell, “Beyond Resolution: What Does Conflict Transformation Actually Transform”, Peace and Conflict Studies, Vol. 9, No. 1 (2002), pp. 1-23.
  • David Bloomfield and Ben Reilly, “The Changing Nature of Conflict and Conflict Management”, in Peter Harris and Ben Reilly (eds.), Democracy and Deep-Rooted Conflict: Options for Negotiators, Stockholm, International IDEA, 1998, pp. 7-28.
  • Dan Snodderly, Peace Terms: Glossary of Terms for Conflict Management and Peacebuilding, Washington DC, USIP, 2011, p. 15. 9 Ibid.
  • Yeni Kimliği ve Çatışma Çözümlerini Keşfi”, in Burhanettin Duran, Kemal İnat and Mesut
  • Özcan, Türk Dış Politikası Yıllığı 2010, Ankara, SETA Yayınları, 2011, pp. 621-661.
  • Fidan and Nurdun, “Turkey’s Role in the Global Development Assistance Community”.
  • “Turkey to Host UN Summit on Least Developed Countries”, Ahram Online, 12 April 2011, at host-UN-summit-on-least-developed-countr.aspx [last visited 1 July 2012].
  • According to Öniş and Yılmaz, the period between 1 March 2003 and 5 November 2007 marked the lowest period in Turkish-American relations since the 1975-1978 embargo. See, Ziya Öniş and Şuhnaz Yılmaz, “Between Europeanization and Euroasianism: Foreign Policy Activism in Turkey During the AKP Era”, Turkish Studies, Vol. 10, No. 1 (2009), pp. 7-24.
  • “Davutoğlu: Gazze Saldırısı, Türkiye İsrail İlişkilerinde Dönüm Noktası Oldu”, Zaman, 1 December 2010.
  • “Turkish PM Opposed to Rasmussen’s NATO Bid”, FRANCE 24, 3 April 2009.
  • “2010 Arab Public Opinion Poll: Obama’s Popularity Decreases while Erdogan’s Popularity Increases”, zimbio.com, 10 August 2011.
  • Philip Gordon and Ömer Taşpınar, “Turkey on the Brink”, Washington Quarterly, Vol. 29, No. 3 (2006), pp. 57-70; James Kitfield, “Who Lost Turkey? Did Our NATO Ally Shift Its Allegiances After Deadly Attacks On Its Gaza Aid Shi, Or Has This Been Building Up”, at http://www.nationaljournal.com/njonline/ns_20100621_3616.php [last visited 7 July 2013].
  • Tarık Oğuzlu, “Middle Easternization of Turkey’s Foreign Policy: Does Turkey Dissociate from the West?”, Turkish Studies, Vol. 9, No. 1 (2008), pp. 3-20.
  • During the Turgut Özal presidency in the early 1990s, as well as during period when İsmail Cem was Foreign Minister (1997-2002), Turkey attempted to abandon its passive and security-oriented foreign-policy paradigm, but these attempts proved unsustainable due to its economic and political instabilities. See, Meliha Benli-Altunışık, “Worldviews and Turkish Foreign Policy in the Middle East”, New Perspectives on Turkey, Vol. 40 (Spring 2009), pp. 179-185.
  • Kerem Öktem, “Projecting Power: Non-Conventional Policy Actors in Turkey’s International Relations”, in Kerem Öktem, Ayşe Kadıoğlu and Mehmet Karlı (eds.), Another Empire? A Decade of Turkey’s Foreign Policy Under the Justice and Development Party, İstanbul, İstanbul Bilgi University Press, 2012, pp. 77-108.
  • Mensur Akgün and Sabiha Senyücel-Gündoğar, Ortadoğu’da Türkiye Algısı 2011, Istanbul, TESEV, 2012.
  • Mehmet Babacan, Whither Axis Shift: A Perspective from Turkey’s Foreign Trade, SETA Policy Report No. 4, Ankara, SETA, 2010; Kemal Kirişci and Neslihan Kaptanoğlu, “The Politics of Trade and Turkish Foreign Policy”, Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 47, No. 5 (September 2011), pp. 705-724.
  • Ahmet Sözen, “A Paradigm Shift in Turkish Foreign Policy: Transition and Challenges”, Turkish Studies, Vol. 11, No. 1 (March 2010), pp. 103-123.
  • Kemal Kirişci, “The Transformation of Turkish Foreign Policy: The Rise of the Trading State”, New Perspectives on Turkey, Vol. 40, No. 1 (Spring 2009), pp. 29-57.
  • Basheer M. Nafi, “The Arabs and Modern Turkey: A Century of Changing Perceptions”, Insight Turkey, Vol. 11, No. 1 (2009), pp. 63-82; Tarık Oğuzlu, “Soft Power in Turkish Foreign Policy”, Australian Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 61, No. 1 (March 2007), pp. 81-97.
  • Meliha Benli-Altunışık, “The Possibilities and Limits of Turkey’s Soft Power in the Middle East”, Insight Turkey, Vol. 10, No. 2 (2008), pp. 41-54; Oğuzlu, “Middle Easternization of Turkey’s Foreign Policy”.
  • Öktem, “Projecting Power”, Sadık Ünay, “Economic Diplomacy for Competitiveness: Globalization and Turkey’s New Foreign Policy”, Perceptions: Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 15, No. 3-4 (Autumn-Winter 2010), pp. 21-47.
  • Talha Köse, “The Alliance of Civilizations: Possibilities of Conflict Resolution at the Civilizational Level”, Insight Turkey, Vol. 11, No. 3 (2009), pp. 77-94; Ali Balcı and Nebi Miş, “Turkey’s Role in the Alliance of Civilizations: A New Perspective in Turkish Foreign Policy?”, Turkish Studies, Vol. 9, No. 3 (September 2008), pp. 387-406.
  • Karin Aggestam, “Internal and External Dynamics of Spoiling: A Negotiation Approach”, in Edward Newman and Oliver Richmond (eds.), Challenges to Peacebuilding: Managing Spoilers During Conflict Resolution, Tokyo, New York, United Nations University Press, 2006, pp. 23- 39.
  • Gürkan Zengin, Hoca: Türk Dış Politikası’nda Davutoğlu Etkisi, İstanbul, İnkilap Kitabevi, 2011, pp. 265-271.
  • Soner Çağaptay, “Is Turkey Leaving the West?”, Foreign Affairs, 26 October 2009.
  • Burak Ege Bekdil and Ümit Enginsoy, “Turkey To Have Triple Role in Libya Mission”, Defense News, 2011; “Irak İle Suriye’ye ‘Barışın’ Baskısı”, Radikal, 18 August 2009.
  • Ivan Watson and Mitra Mobasherat, “Turkey: Iran Nuclear Swap Offer Shows ‘Vision’”, at http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/05/18/iran.nuclear/ [last visited 22 August 2013].
  • Zengin, Hoca, pp. 265-271.
  • Akgün and Senyücel-Gündoğar, Ortadoğu’da Türkiye Algısı 2011.
  • Sözen, “A Paradigm Shift in Turkish Foreign Policy”.
  • Stephen Ryan, “Conflict Transformation: Reasons to be Modest”, in Dennis Sandole, Sean Byrne, Ingrid Sandole-Staroste and Jessica Senehi (eds.), Handbook of Conflict Analysis and Resolution, New York, Routledge, 2008, p. 305.
  • Çağaptay, “Is Turkey Leaving the West?”.
There are 37 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Journal Section Articles
Authors

Talha Köse This is me

Publication Date January 1, 2013
Published in Issue Year 2013 Volume: 18 Issue: 4

Cite

APA Köse, T. (2013). Transformative Conflict Resolution in an Unstable Neighbourhood: Turkey’s Conflict Resolution Efforts in the Middle East. PERCEPTIONS: Journal of International Affairs, 18(4), 171-194.
AMA Köse T. Transformative Conflict Resolution in an Unstable Neighbourhood: Turkey’s Conflict Resolution Efforts in the Middle East. PERCEPTIONS. January 2013;18(4):171-194.
Chicago Köse, Talha. “Transformative Conflict Resolution in an Unstable Neighbourhood: Turkey’s Conflict Resolution Efforts in the Middle East”. PERCEPTIONS: Journal of International Affairs 18, no. 4 (January 2013): 171-94.
EndNote Köse T (January 1, 2013) Transformative Conflict Resolution in an Unstable Neighbourhood: Turkey’s Conflict Resolution Efforts in the Middle East. PERCEPTIONS: Journal of International Affairs 18 4 171–194.
IEEE T. Köse, “Transformative Conflict Resolution in an Unstable Neighbourhood: Turkey’s Conflict Resolution Efforts in the Middle East”, PERCEPTIONS, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 171–194, 2013.
ISNAD Köse, Talha. “Transformative Conflict Resolution in an Unstable Neighbourhood: Turkey’s Conflict Resolution Efforts in the Middle East”. PERCEPTIONS: Journal of International Affairs 18/4 (January 2013), 171-194.
JAMA Köse T. Transformative Conflict Resolution in an Unstable Neighbourhood: Turkey’s Conflict Resolution Efforts in the Middle East. PERCEPTIONS. 2013;18:171–194.
MLA Köse, Talha. “Transformative Conflict Resolution in an Unstable Neighbourhood: Turkey’s Conflict Resolution Efforts in the Middle East”. PERCEPTIONS: Journal of International Affairs, vol. 18, no. 4, 2013, pp. 171-94.
Vancouver Köse T. Transformative Conflict Resolution in an Unstable Neighbourhood: Turkey’s Conflict Resolution Efforts in the Middle East. PERCEPTIONS. 2013;18(4):171-94.