Caught in sovereignty: a Turkish remedy to the ineffectiveness of the European Union policies on combating terrorism

Official URL: http://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b1669245 (Table of Contents)

Following the two world wars, the formation of security policy in Europe was shaped by the security threats that it confronted throughout the history. During the Cold War era, the threat was the evil of communism created by the Soviet Union. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the world became much closer and globalized. After the 9/11 attacks in 2001, the nature of security threat has changed, and terrorism has emerged as the most important security threat for the world and Europe. Religiously inspired terrorism hit Europe first in 2004 with the Madrid bombings and then in 2005 with the London bombings. Following these attacks, the European Union security policy was framed to combat terrorism. Although the European Union created the European Union Counter-Terrorism Strategy in 2005 to fight against terrorism, the EU policies remain ineffective due to the reluctance of member states to make concession on security issues. This master thesis focuses on the Turkish role and power as a remedy to the ineffective counter-terrorism policies of the European Union. The frame of this thesis is formed on the historical and theoretical explanations which will reveal Turkey as a sustainable ally to Europe in combatting religiously inspired terrorism, i.e. Islamic State. Due to the convergence of material interests between Europe and Turkey, which has strategic importance for and experience in combating terrorism for many years, the relationship between the two parties will become much more interdependent in terms of achieving the common objective: fight against terrorism.