The role of norms in Turkey's humanitarian assistance strategy in the JDP era: The cases of Pakistan, Somalia, and Syria

Turkey was ranked first among non-DAC donors and fourth in the world in terms of total humanitarian aid in 2012. After a year, with a contribution value for humanitarian aid of 0.21% of its gross national income, Turkey was the most generous country in 2013. For the first time, Turkey surpassed the United States in terms of total humanitarian aid volume in 2017 and ranked first not only among non-Western donors, but also among all countries. This thesis analyzes Turkey's humanitarian aid between 2003 and 2018, asks why Turkey provides humanitarian aid, and how norms and identity shape the country's humanitarian aid decisions. In terms of methodology, qualitative research methods used to address the research question of this exploratory study through discourse analysis, process tracing method, and case studies. The theoretical base of the thesis is the constructivist theory that pays particular attention to the roles of identities and norms of actors in the international community. Turkish humanitarian aids for complex emergencies in Somalia and Syria, and for natural disasters in Pakistan are the three cases selected in this study. These three case studies are chosen in this study to analyze and compare Turkey's humanitarian aid in different humanitarian contexts that range from unanticipated natural disaster related emergencies to protracted humanitarian crises. Based on the findings of the study, it is plausible to argue that; Turkey's humanitarian aid policy under the governments of the Justice and Development Party has been shaped mainly by the humanitarian and historical responsibility, Islamic solidarity, protecting the vulnerable, and mutual partnership norms.