Theses supervised by John Turner
11 theses · Eastern Mediterranean University
The Role of Syrian Kurds in Confronting International Terrorism (ISIS)
The Syrian uprising in 2011 opened a door and paved the way for Syrian Kurds to reorganize themselves and retake their homeland from the Syrian regime. The Syrian crisis had not been concluded when another problem emerged, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) which was very strong and a risk for the world at large. The international community turned its attention to the decline of, and ending the threat of ISIS to the region. To that end, the U.S has made a coalition to confront the risks of the terror group, but the U.S has not sought to engage in the war directly with its troops. The U.S strategy has been supporting groups by airstrikes, providing weapons and looking for a reliable and powerful group in Syria capable of ending ISIS‟s threat. After the defense skills displayed by Syrian Kurds (PYD) in Kobane in 2014, the U.S came to understand that the Kurds are the best option for cooperation against the brutal group, ISIS. On the other hand, the Syrian Kurds needed and tried to get support for fighting ISIS because they did not have enough weapons, ammunition and any international support. In addition, the Syrian Kurds have had some enemies in the region making it necessary for the Kurds to align themselves with the U.S in order to protect from other foes and getting help for fighting ISIS and other groups. The United States and PYD established their relations in 2014. The relationship is beneficial for both sides as for the U.S, ending the threats of ISIS was necessary and for PYD ending ISIS, getting support and protection from other groups and states like Turkey, is also necessary. I hypothesize that in this relationship; the PYD could exploit the situation for their goals and realize the advantages.
Democracy in the Middle East: An Indigenous Assessment
During the previous century much of the world has taken great strides in adopting and implementing democracy and yet the Middle East has notably faltered. More recently with the rise of religious extremism, the region has fallen farther behind with many states retaining authoritarian forms of governance demonstrating gross humanitarian abuses. Most notably since the turn of the century, the resurgence of Islam as a driving force in regional politics, has proven a daunting challenge for the increasingly secular statesmen and academics of the West. Likewise attempts to understand the situation from an outside perspective and apply remedies concocted in western institutions have met with repeated failure and have in fact only served to bolster the anti-democratic narratives of fundamentalists and terrorists. In order to fully appreciate the roots of the dilemma and help create better communication between East and West, the people living in the Middle East need to be heard and included in the dialogue. In this study, interviews were done with a broad selection of sixteen students from the Middle East studying at the Eastern Mediterr ne n University in G zim usa, Northern Cyprus. This selection included Arabs, Turks, Iranians and Kurds from all major political and religious backgrounds. Each was asked for their thoughts on the state of democracy in the Middle East. Their answers highlight the fact that although most Middle Easterners welcome incre sed freedom they don‟t w nt the incre singly individualist democracy promoted in the West or the political and economic strings often attached to it. Their responses also underscore the essential role that Islam continues to play in the political psyche of their region, the nature of which westerners largely misunderstand. This study should prove helpful in highlighting the real concerns of the up and coming generation of Middle Easterners with a view towards fostering better understanding and communication. Keywords: Democracy, Middle East, Secularism, Human Rights, Islam, West.
Critical Examination of the African Union’s Peacekeeping Mission: A Case of African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM)
The aim of this study is to critically examine the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). The study offers empirical reflection on the strength of realist theory using AMISOM as a case study. In this paper, the concept of national interest was analyzed through the lens of realist theory as to understand the motives underlying states engagement with AMISOM. Further, the research paper, reveals that national self-interest such as economic interest, political interest, military and security interest all have shaped the motives of states engagement with AMISOM. Thus has greatly jeopardize the long term stability in the country. My objectives, however, transcend beyond simply exploring the motives of states for participation in AMISOM. I also attempt to find out the root causes of Somalia conflict and to examine the challenges confronting AMISOM in their ongoing operation in Somalia. This research paper is divided into five chapter; the first chapter provides the introduction of the subject matter. The second chapter covered the literature review and theoretical framework of peacekeeping mission. It also covers a conceptual understanding of conflict, conflict resolution and peacekeeping. Chapter three provides the root causes of Somalia conflict, the international and regional engagement in Somalia and the roles, mandates and composition of AMISOM. The chapter four analyzes in detail the motives for states interventions in Somalia conflict and how it has jeopardize the potential for long term stability in the country. It also discusses the prospects and challenges confronting AMISOM. Finally, in the fifth chapter, I present conclusion and recommendations derived from the analysis.
A Workable Alternative to Sanctions and Military Intervention in Preventing a Nuclear Armed Iran
For decades, several countries including The United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel have been able to manage the possession of nuclear weapons, but the mere thought of a potential nuclear armed Iran has raised an enormous security concern in the international community because of the devastating consequences that this would cause not just for the Middle East region, but for the entire international community. As much as the international community has agreed on preventing a nuclear armed Iran, the high level of controversy in the international community regarding what policy tool is most appropriate in actualising this objective has divided pundits and foreign policy experts along three main policy lines; sanctions, military intervention and diplomacy. With a benefit-cost analysis and an evaluation of the effectiveness of the respective foreign policy options available in preventing a nuclear armed Iran, this research hope to ascertain the most effective and less costly policy option in preventing a nuclear armed Iran. In pursuit of this objective, this research is divided into five chapters; chapter one covers the introduction of the subject in focus. Chapter two entails the literature review, conceptualization and theoretical framework. An overview of the Iranian nuclear crisis is provided in chapter three. Chapter four coves a benefit-cost analysis and an evaluation of the effectiveness of all three options. Chapter five is the summary, recommendation and conclusion.Öz:Yüzyıllar boyu Amerika, Rusya , Birleşik Krallık, Fransa, Çin, Pakistan, Kuzey Kore ve İsrail gibi birçok ülke sahip oldukları nükleer silahları idare etmeyi başarabildiler, ancak İran‟ın nükleer bir güce sahip olma düşüncesi bile sadece Orta Doğu bölgesinde değil, bütün uluslararası toplumda yıkıcı sonuçlara sebep verebilme ihtimali bile uluslararası toplum için ciddi bir güvenlik endişesinin oluşumuna sebep verir.Uluslararası toplum her ne kadar nükleer güce sahip bir İran‟ın oluşumunu engellemekte karar kılmış olsa da, bunu hayata geçirmek için hangi politik yönün izleneceği konusunda uluslararası toplumun büyük orandaki anlaşmazlığı uzmanları ve dış politika uzmanlarını üç ana politik alana yönlendirdi; müeyyide,askeri müdahale ve diplomasi. Bu araştırma elde olan karlılık analizi ve her bir dış politika seçeneklerinin geçerlilik tespiti ile nükleer güce sahip bir İranın engellenmesinde en etkili ve en uygun bütceli seçeneğin hangisi olduğunu belirlemeyi amaçlar. Bu amaç arayışında araştırma beş bölüme ayrılır; birinci bölüm konuya girişi kapsar. İkinci bölüm konuyu literatür inceleme, kavramsallaştırma ve teorik çerçevede irdeler. Üçüncü bölüm ise İran‟ın nükleer krizine bir genel bakış sunar. Dördüncü bölüm tüm üç seçeneğin karlılık analizi ve geçerlilik tespitini kapsar. Beşinci bölüm ise özet, öneri ve sonuçtan oluşur.
The EU Future Role in Libya's Conflict Resolution
The violent conflict in Libya and the international community's involvement has led to political, economic, social instability and the dislocation of peace and security. Relevant actors with stakes in Libyan peace and security have to agitate for involvement in the reconstruction efforts. Libya lies south of Europe‘s borders on the Mediterranean Sea. It is strategically the gateway to Africa and the Middle East to and from Europe. This strategic relevance ignites an interest in the European Union's participation. This research project investigates EU policies in Post-Gaddafi Libya and its efforts towards the political, economic and security reconstruction. The project utilized relevant literature, Elite interviews, memos, factsheets and other relevant documents, to evaluate EU policies and their impact on Post-conflict reconstruction after the demise of Gaddafi. This research established that, the EU policies suffer inconsistencies in implementation in relation to the role of the national interest of some EU member states. The intervention was more for the protection of European security from migrants and terrorist than a genuine concern for fundamental policy intervention that could bring peace, security, political and economic stability. Keywords: EU policies, Post-Gaddafi Libya, Security, Post-conflict reconstruction, EU member states' national interests.
Impact of Imperialism and Western Influence on Middle East: A Case Study of Iraq and Iran
Imperialism, which is the practice by powerful country or group of countries gaining control over weaker one through dominance or influence, can be traced to the 18th century. Western imperialism, characterized by a colossal power inequality between the colonizers, located in the west, and the colonized, located in the East, was owing to the Middle East regions’ potentials of industrialization, geographical locations and most importantly, oil. Iraq and Iran, both situated in the Middle East, are areas blessed with a large oil deposits which made them those of the most desirable territories in the Middle East and vulnerable to western imperialism. Therefore, this study focuses on Iraq and Iran as cases study, sought to investigate the dynamics behind the rise of imperialism in the Middle East and the impacts of imperialism in this region as well as how Iraq and Iran struggled against the Western exploitation. Driven by World-System and Dependency theories, qualitative and descriptive case study method was adopted for this study. The impacts of imperialism on Iraq include current redrawing of the Iraqi borders into boundaries of Shia majority, a large Sunni minority, a Kurdish region, the creation of the state of Iraq and the high dependent of Iraq on the west, despite being an oil producing country; while Iran, though was never officially subject to imperial power, was indirectly and by proxy, ruled and controlled by the west, having had its democratically-elected leader eliminated. This study concludes that besides oil, poverty, low technological development and poor governance contributed to the rise of imperialism in the Middle East. However, despite the exploitations by the West, Iran and Iraq benefitted positively in terms of industrialization of oil industry and evolution of infrastructure. Therefore, government of developing countries should encourage self-development and self-reliance to avoid any form of imperialism. Keywords: Dependency theory, Imperialism, Iran, Iraq, Middle East, World-System Theory
The Role of Hydrocarbons on the Political Status of KRG
Since the end of the Cold-War, many de facto-states have come into existence after 1990s. Many of them gained international recognition as sovereign legitimate states but others remained as de facto-statehood without recognition. The Kurdistan Regional Government-Iraq (KRG) is among these de facto-states with a government and military capability established since 1991. Throughout this period, the KRG has tried to build pillars of a sovereign state without officially declaring independence. The KRG as a de facto-state is the outcome of external intervention in Iraq on the consequences of Gulf war in 1990 that led to withdraw Iraqi military forces from the Kurdistan region. This argument is based on the implications of exploitation hydrocarbons on the foreign relations of the KRG in post-2003 Iraq. The significances of exploring natural resources in Kurdistan region is quite important and affected the legitimacy of the KRG among the international community. The Kurdistan Government is sitting on a large amount of hydrocarbon resources that could be enough for a de facto-state to break the traditional boundaries of sovereignty and mutual recognition. The term functional government has been strongly linked with economic power of a state, and it could be sufficient to pave the way for expanding further political power. This study would argue that the KRG is able to influence the political sensitivities towards the Kurds movement in the Middle East positively by taking advantages of the economic tools they are obtaining.
State Failure and International Terrorism: An Analysis of the State of Nigeria as an Incubator of Terror
The ‘War on Terror’ differs distinctly from the major security challenges that characterized the 20th century, particularly as it is defined by asymmetric warfare, where non-state actors challenge state security. ISIS and Boko Haram are two prominent jihadist groups involved in this conflict. In March 2015, Boko Haram in Nigeria became a branch of ISIS in the West Africa Region. Boko Haram has carried out a number of attacks in Central and West region of Africa against Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon, making it an international agent. Some queries are raised about the presence and the lack of control by the competent state authorities. Thus Nigeria is considered by some scholars as an incubator of global terror. This claim is also challenged by those who argue there is no clear link between failed or failing states and international terrorism. The aim of this research is to find the relationship between failed or failing states and transnational terrorism. This study will contribute to the scholarly debate on international security. Thus, the topic aims to enrich the discussion on failed states and terrorism in international relations. The findings would seek to contribute to practitioner knowledge regarding potential failed state governments and the dangers these present to the international community as a whole. Keywords: Failed states, Failing states, International terrorism, Nigeria
Deterrence and Stability in the Middle East: The Role of a Nuclear Armed Iran
The significance of nuclear deterrence in today’s multi-polar world cannot be underestimated. With the end of cold war in 1991 more states have felt the need of acquiring nuclear weapons. The fear of destruction is one of the main reasons why states go nuclear. States like North Korea, India and Pakistan have employed this notion in defense of their nuclear statuses. The Iran-Israeli relationship in the Middle East has been frigid since2005 due to the Iran nuclear program which is widely perceived as a threat to Israel and the West. Though, the relationship between these two states has been tense since the Arab-Israeli war period. The shift from friendly to hostile relations between both countries has been said to be motivated by both the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran with its revolutionary ideology and the political situation in the region in combination with international factors. This research is aimed at investigating if nuclear deterrence is a possible means of ensuring stability between Israel and Iran in Middle East. Looking at how deterrence ensured stability during the cold war to a certain extent, will a nuclear Iran stabilize the Middle East? The first chapter of this research provides introduction, historical background, and hypothesis, purpose of research, research question, methodology and scope of research. Chapter two aims at providing literature review and theoretical framework on nuclear weapons and deterrence. This chapter is a comprehensive survey on scholarly research on nuclear deterrence. Chapter three is an overview of nuclear weapons and Iran-Israel relationship in the Middle East. This chapter captures Iran-Israeli nuclear approaches. Chapter four opens on the view of Iran nuclear program by regional and external actors with U.S and international policies towards Iran’s nuclear intention. Chapter five covers the theoretical analysis and reasons for Iran’s possession of nuclear weapon in the Middle East and how it can ensure stability using neo-realism. Chapter six is conclusion and recommendation Keywords: Deterrence, Stability, Nuclear weapon, Israel-Iran, Retaliation, Defense
The Changing Policy of Kazakhization and Its Effects on Minority Rights and Foreign Policy Orientations in Kazakhstan
The collapse of the Soviet Union and gaining of independence of Kazakhstan has forced the country to pass the stages of state building and nation-building. Soviet Union's policy left a mark in the minds of the Kazakh people. The attempt by the Soviet Union in the collectivization policy, the destruction of the Kazakh intelligentsia, and development of virgin lands for the purpose of Russification led to the transformation of Kazakh nation as well as the loss of it is culture, language and customs. During the collapse of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan was the only country where the titular nation was a minority in comparison with the Russian population. The factors listed above and the low population was a determining factor in the construction of Kazakhstan's state policy which has received the informal name "Kazakhization". Policy of "Kazakhization" became the basic nationalistic policy of Kazakhstan, which aims to restore national values and strengthening the role of the titular nation that was lost during the Soviet policies. New political course of Kazakhstan became the impetus for the transformation of the republic and changed the ethnic composition. Kazakhization included increasing the role of the titular population in all spheres of life that has caused a negative reaction from the Russian population which has not been ready for the new reforms in the country. In connection with the introduction of policy Kazakhization increased outflow of the Russian population that has led to revisions of some laws.On adoption of Kazakhization influenced by Soviet policy that has a negative impact on the democratization process in all post-Soviet countries. The authoritarian regime, oppressive notion has led to the emergence of feelings of ethnic nationalism and this reflected in the policies of the former Soviet Union countries and Kazakhstan. Despite the prevalence of latent feelings of ethnic nationalism, cooperation of Kazakhstan with Russia is still in a priority. Growth of discontent on the part of Russian population did not lead to a deterioration of relations on the contrary it is strengthened the cooperation between two countries. At the same time, there is a high probability of deterioration which could lead to a repetition of scenario of annexation in Ukraine and Georgia.
Interventionism - Locating the Lines between Humanitarian Ideals and States’ Realistic National Interests: A Case Study of the Libya and Syria Crisis between 2010 and 2012
This research examines the question of interventionism from the perspective of realism vs. idealism. Realism is defined in relationship to states‘ national interests whereas idealism is defined in relation to the UN‘s Responsibility to Protect doctrine—a doctrine heavily influenced by Western rhetoric over the past decade. By addressing the question of interventionism from this standpoint, by way of a case study of Libya and Syria, a picture of the realistic implications of ―humanitarian intervention‖ becomes clear. Idealistically, humanitarian interventionism is a process that stops atrocities and establishes peace and prosperity. Realistically, interventionism allows Western businesses to reap the spoils of destabilization—as has been seen in Libya with the Libyan oil fields being claimed by Western oil companies—and as is being seen in Syria, with the threat of invasion bound to have detrimental effects on the construction of a new pipeline that bypasses the Turkey-Israel pipeline. Syria also presents itself as the last bastion for Russian naval presence in the Mediterranean, a role that Russia is not likely to see Syria yield up, and which poses significant problems to the West as it readies itself for a possible strike on Syria. This research seeks answers to question of what the Western states‘ national interests in humanitarian intervention in Libya and Syria? It examines the need for intervention, discusses the evidence of atrocities, and concludes that even when evidence is apparent there is no consistency in terms of Western response. Only when Western powers see an opportunity to secure their national self-interests does intervention become an imperative. This study concludes that humanitarian intervention is at best an idealistic notion that the UN supports and at worst it is an oxymoron, a glossy façade that allows Western powers to raid countries from which it has something to gain. Öz:Bu araştırma müdahalecilik sorusunu realizm ve idaelizm ideolojilerini karşılaştırarak incelemektedir. Realizm, ülkelerin kendi çıkarları ile ilişkilendirebilinirken, idealizm, geçmiş yüzyılarda Batı sözbiliminden oldukça etkilenmiş BM‘in ‗koruma sorumluluğu‘ mezhebi ile tanımlanır. Libya ve Suriye örnekleriyle bu bakış açısından müdahalecilik sorusunu ele alarak, insancıl müdahale kavramının gerçekci etkileri netleşmektedir. İdealistik olarak, insancıl müdahalecilik, vahşeti durdurma ve, barış ve refahı sağlama sürecidir. Realistik olarak da, daha önce Libya‘nın başına gelen, Libya petrol sahalarının Batı petrol şirketleri tarafından talep edilmesi gibi müdahalecilik batı işletmelerinin istikrarsızlaştırma ganimetini biçmesine izin verir. Şu anda da Suriye‘de görüldüğü gibi işgal tehdidi nedeni ile Türkiye-İsrail boru hattının yanından geçen yeni bir boru hattı inşası üzerindeki zararlı etkileri de buna bir örnektir.Suriye, aynı zamanda da, Rusya‘nın Akdeniz‘deki varlığının son kalesi olmasından dolayı, Rusya‘nın Suriye‘nin teslim edildiğini görmek istememesi, Suriye‘ye saldırı yapmaya hazırlanan Batı‘ya ciddi problemler oluşturmaktadır. Bu araştırma Batı ülkelerinin Libya ve Suriye‘de ki insancıl müdahalelerin üzerindeki çıkarların nedenlerini sorgulamaktadır. Müdahale gereksinimini incelemekte, vahşet delillerini tartışmakta ve Batı tepkilerinin tutarsız olması kanaatine varmaktadır. Batı güçleri sadece kendi çıkarlarını koruma altına almak için bir fırsat gördükleri zaman müdahale, zorunluluk haline gelmektedir. Bu araştırma insancıl müdahalenin iyi yönden bakıldığı zaman, BM‘in desteklediği idealistik bir kavram, kötü yönden bakıldığı zaman ise bir oximoron; Batı güçlerinin çıkarı olduğu ülkelere baskın yapmasına izin veren sahte bir cephedir.