Browsing by Author "Akgul-Acikmese, Sinem"

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Citation - WoS: 2
Citation - Scopus: 1
Türkiye's Relations With/Within Nato: the Ontological Security Dilemmas of Türkiye's Transatlantic Identity
(Sage Publications inc, 2024) Akgul-Acikmese, Sinem; Aksu, Fulya
Since 1952, T & uuml;rkiye's Transatlantic identity has been largely shaped by its NATO membership and interactions with the Allies. During the Cold War, T & uuml;rkiye aligned its national interests and security concerns with NATO, making its membership a central element of its identity. However, starting in the 2000s, T & uuml;rkiye shifted toward a more independent foreign policy, influenced by its new activism and regional ambitions, particularly in the Middle East. This shift has caused tensions with NATO, especially considering T & uuml;rkiye's military interventions in Syria, its purchase of the S-400 missile defense system from Russia, and its reactions to the latest enlargement of NATO. This paper examines T & uuml;rkiye's evolving Transatlantic identity through the lens of ontological security, according to which states act in order to provide continuity in their identities (T & uuml;rkiye's Transatlantic identity) and to prevent any instabilities to feel ontologically secure, which then might create security dilemmas between the protective security cocoons (T & uuml;rkiye's NATO membership) and the crises with other actors (T & uuml;rkiye's clashes with/within NATO). In other words, this paper aims to understand how T & uuml;rkiye's Transatlantic identity is still valued, desired, and reconstructed, despite the security dilemmas of T & uuml;rkiye's contentions with/within the NATO Alliance, from the ontological security perspective.
Citation - WoS: 3
Citation - Scopus: 5
The Eu's Autonomous Sanctions Against Russia in 2014 Versus 2022: How Does the Bureaucratic Politics Model Bring in the Institutional 'balance of Power' Within the Eu?
(Wiley, 2024) Sanus, Ekin; Akgul-Acikmese, Sinem; Karaoguz, H. Emrah
The European Union (EU) has been more incensed over Russian aggression towards Ukraine in 2022, when compared to Russia's invasion of Crimea in 2014. This article questions this shift by looking at the EU's sanctions towards Russia. It argues that the relative unwillingness of the European Commission, and accordingly the imbalance or lopsided distribution of power within and amongst the relevant EU institutions, was one of the factors internal to the EU that prevented an effective response in 2014. Although external and contextual factors have been crucial, the EU has adopted harsher sanctions against Russia since 2022 because the Commission is not unwilling to act as it was in 2014, and dissenting members have found it difficult to obstruct the process in the Council of the EU. This article also extends the analytical repertoire of the bureaucratic politics model by demonstrating that it retains explanatory power even when the traditional parameters remain constant over time.
Securitization and Digital Diplomacy: Zelenskyy's 'Security-Tweet' During the Russia-Ukraine War
(Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2025) Eryigit, Azade S.; Akgul-Acikmese, Sinem; Karaoguz, H. Emrah
This article explores the link between social media and securitization in the context of the Russia-Ukraine war, post-February 2022, by employing the main tenets of the Copenhagen and Paris Schools. Zelenskyy's primary objectives in employing securitization language were to advance EU candidacy, garner support for the closure of the Turkish Straits, and secure US aid for Ukraine, as well as sanctions against Russia. Our geospatial analysis of retweets of Zelenskyy's posts indicates that the public accepted Zelenskyy's securitization moves in Europe, T & uuml;rkiye, and the US. Our further qualitative analysis reveals that Zelenskyy convinced enabling audiences that Russia is a threat not only to Ukraine, but to all of Europe and the world. Although it cannot be claimed that Zelenskyy's digital diplomacy alone caused the policy outcomes, our analysis illustrates how political leaders may use digital diplomacy in times of crisis to shape a discursive environment that justifies their policy preferences.
Citation - WoS: 5
Citation - Scopus: 12
Eu Policy Towards the Israel-Palestine Conflict: the Limitations of Mitigation Strategies
(Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2024) Akgul-Acikmese, Sinem; Ozel, Soli
Over the decades, the EU has aimed at resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict through its Foreign and Security Policy (EUFSP) tools, with the 'two-state solution' as the over-arching principle for conflict resolution. This policy has been ineffective due to the contextual interplay of multipolar competition, regional fragmentation and EU-level internal contestation. Faced with these contextual constraints, the EU has employed a range of mitigation strategies: delegation as an institutional measure through its Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions; multilateralisation as a diplomatic/coalitional measure through its participation in the Quartet and other multilateral platforms; and selective engagement as a functional measure through its trade ties with both actors and humanitarian aid policies in order to mitigate the impact of the contextual constraints. However, none of the EU's mitigation actions have adequately alleviated the impact of the three contextual constraints because of intra-regional sensitivities, divergences and violent clashes, as well as Israel's ongoing occupation of Palestinian lands with the protection of the United States (US).