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Rethinking Turkey’s Approach to R2P: Turkish Foreign Policy Towards the Syrian Civil War 2011–2017

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Rethinking the Responsibility to Protect

Part of the book series: Contributions to International Relations ((CIR))

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the use of R2P in Turkish foreign policy (TFP) towards the Syrian civil war from its beginning to early 2017. Turkey has appeared as one of the key actors in the Syrian conflict. Moreover, Turkey’s approach to R2P is closely intertwined with its ambitious policy agenda in the civil war. Therefore, this chapter examines the question as to how the use of R2P has changed as TFP transformed over the course of the Syrian civil war. It also discusses the ways in which R2P has been challenged and/or confirmed by the discourse and practice of TFP towards Syria. In this context, this chapter argues that the use of R2P in TFP during the Syrian civil war is a telling example of the misconduct of R2P by states to legitimize their interventionist policies across their borders.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Other three military operations are Operation Olive Branch in January 2018, Operation Peace Spring in October 2019, and Operation Spring Shield in February 2020.

  2. 2.

    The definitions of these three analytical tools are based on Nathalie Tocci’s theoretical model of normative foreign policy. See Tocci (2007).

  3. 3.

    For example, please see MFA 29 April 2016.

  4. 4.

    Only exception was the Turkish cross-border operation to secure the Ottoman tomb from ISIS in February 2015. Please CS Monitor 22 February 2017.

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Correspondence to Volkan Şeyşane .

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Şeyşane, V., Çelik, Ç. (2023). Rethinking Turkey’s Approach to R2P: Turkish Foreign Policy Towards the Syrian Civil War 2011–2017. In: Reichwein, A., Hansel, M. (eds) Rethinking the Responsibility to Protect. Contributions to International Relations. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-27412-1_8

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