Articles by Asli Elitsoy
The Future of Euro-MENA Relations, 2024
This paper analyzes the domestic political factors behind Turkey’s use of Coercive Engineered Mig... more This paper analyzes the domestic political factors behind Turkey’s use of Coercive Engineered Migration (CEM) as a strategic foreign policy tool, particularly in the context of the 2016 EU-Turkey Statement. It argues that Turkey’s use of CEM is influenced not only by the EU’s externalization and securitization of migration but also by domestic politics. Through content analysis of parliamentary debates and questions between 2016 and 2024, the study highlights consensus and contestation among Turkish MPs on using migration as leverage in negotiations with the European Union. The findings indicate that the ruling Justice and Development Party has framed CEM as a necessary response to national security threats vis-à-vis the Kurdish issue, using the threat of refugee flows to pressure the EU to support Turkey’s military actions in northern Syria. Opposition parties, however, criticize the EU-Turkey Statement for exploiting refugees as bargaining chips and causing humanitarian distress, condemning the government’s use of refugees to gain concessions from the EU. Moreover, concerns over the government’s lack of transparency in distributing EU aid for refugees and the perceived exploitation of refugees for political purposes have further eroded public trust. These criticisms have deepened divisions over the government’s handling of migration and foreign policy and contributed to broader political polarization within the Turkish parliament.
Security Dialogue, 2024
Studies examining the spatial patterns of exceptional security measures focus on constructed spac... more Studies examining the spatial patterns of exceptional security measures focus on constructed spaces or national territories exposed to international military intervention. Contemporary literature defines these spaces as zones of lawlessness where the exception prevails. By examining the security policies in the historical homelands of the Palestinians in Israel and the Kurds in Turkey, this article shows how exceptional security and the law co-constitute each other. Through a comparative historical analysis of the formative years of the Israeli and Turkish states, we argue that permanent exceptional security measures in territories inhabited by minority citizens are relevant to the political context in which the constituent power frames the political characteristics of the nation. In the process, exceptional security measures coexisting with the law become instrumental in maintaining and reproducing the distinction between the ‘legitimate members’ of the nation and the ‘enemies’ of the nation/state. The coexistence of exceptional security measures with the legal system challenges the conventional understanding of the exception and its dichotomous relationship with the norm, as outlined by Schmitt and Agamben. Instead, the conceptual framework of ‘legal violence,’ as articulated by Benjamin, offers a more comprehensive perspective for understanding the early years of the Israeli and Turkish states.
New Perspectives on Turkey, 2023
This study builds on an analytical framework of access to healthcare and, using notes from interv... more This study builds on an analytical framework of access to healthcare and, using notes from interviews conducted with 110 migrants of different categories, it discusses the fit between migrant patients and Turkish health services. There is an overall mediocre fit between migrant patients and the Turkish healthcare system, which varies for different migrant groups, and is influenced by the dimensions of awareness, availability, affordability, and accommodation. Migrants’ social capital and socio economic statuses affect the degree of fit, while irregularities in their legal statuses do
not necessarily create a misfit. The existence of many private healthcare institutions offering various services to patients with different incomes and operating in informal ways has improved accessibility, availability, affordability, and accommodation and thus affects the fit positively. Therefore, the health reforms that paved the way for privatization, marketization, and commodification of health services in Turkey in the early 2000s also help explain the degree of fit. Migrants suffer most from language barriers in the health system, and there is an alarming decline in acceptability especially for Syrian refugees, who have reported facing discrimination while seeking healthcare.
İsrailiyat: İsrail ve Yahudi Çalışmaları Dergisi, 2021
The “Basic Law of Human Dignity and Liberty,” which functions as the country’s de facto constitut... more The “Basic Law of Human Dignity and Liberty,” which functions as the country’s de facto constitution, has defined Israel as a "Jewish state," thus putting the equal rights of all non-Jewish citizens within the Israeli polity into question. As a consequence of the Jewish nature of the state, the Jews have been elevated, whether they were citizens or not, into a privileged position over others and governments gave institutional and legal preference to the Jewish majority particularly in the realms of immigration laws, land allocation, and military service. By the 1990s, however, Israel’s citizens of Palestinian descent seemed to find a balance between their Palestinian and Israeli identities and this tendency was accompanied by a growing emphasis on their status as a "national minority in its historical homeland" and a political struggle for collective rights. Challenging the Jewish hegemony, they have persistently claimed to transform the Jewish state into a "state for all its citizens," and, hence, the recognition of their status as a national minority entitled to collective rights, including the right to self-government and equal representation in the governing bodies. What has been the Israeli state response to these demands? Using qualitative data derived from several in-depth interviews with the members of the Israeli political elite conducted in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa between December 2018 and January 2020, this study argued that Israeli policy makers continued to pursue a "security-oriented" policy towards Israeli Palestinians due to their trans-border ethnic relations. As a consequence, the Palestinian demand for establishing a "state for all its citizens," which challenged the Jewish nature of the state, has been seen as a denial of Israel’s right to exist, or to put in discussion the Jews' right to statehood.
Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 2021
This study compares state policies of Israel and Turkey regarding their citizens of Palestinian a... more This study compares state policies of Israel and Turkey regarding their citizens of Palestinian and Kurdish descent respectively. It then explores the reasons for the differences and points at the consequences for Israel’s and Turkey’s democracy. Israel’s citizens of Palestinian descent and Turkey’s citizens of Kurdish descent have faced systematic discrimination. While Israel never considered assimilating its Palestinian citizens into mainstream Israeli national identity, considering Jewishness as its essential and indispensable element, Turkey engaged in assimilation policies vis-à-vis its Kurdish citizens, which met with limited success. While applying different methods in defining the boundaries of Israeli and Turkish ethnicity, both Israel and Turkey have refused to view members of these groups as equal citizens. Awarding full citizenship rights has been questioned on accounts of Jewish sovereignty dilution fears in Israel and of Kurdish self-determination and partition in Turkey. Failing to distinguish their citizens from their trans-border ethnic kin groups and viewing them as part of trans-national community threatening Israeli and Turkish sovereignty, Israel’s citizens of Palestinian descent and Turkey’s citizens of Kurdish descent have been turned into ‘inside outsiders.’ This has deprived them of fundamental constitutional rights and limited the prospects of democratic consolidation in both states.
Studies in Psychology, 2020
This study investigated socioeconomic conflict between the host community
and Syrian refugees in ... more This study investigated socioeconomic conflict between the host community
and Syrian refugees in urban Turkey. It was aimed to explore the mediating role
of political trust in the relationship between personal economic satisfaction and
socioeconomic threat perception toward refugees among the host community.
Accordingly, 243 local urban residents from different cities of Turkey including
Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir were reached using a cross-sectional survey approach
and convenience sample method. Regarding the Turkish political, social and
economic culture and previous studies, assessment tools were generated for
the purpose of this study to measure socioeconomic threat perception, personal
economic satisfaction, political trust, and satisfaction with public policies.
The participants’ age, city, education, gender and income information were
obtained using a demographic form. Data was collected via an online survey
program. Controlling for demographic variables (age, city, education, gender,
and income) and satisfaction with public services, the indirect effect of political
trust was analyzed using a bootstrapping method via PROCESS Macro plug-in
for SPSS. The research findings showed that personal economic satisfaction was
significantly associated with political trust and socioeconomic threat perception.
Moreover, political trust was also significantly related to socioeconomic threat
perception. More importantly, in accordance with the main hypothesis of the
study, it was found that political trust mediated the relationship between personal
economic satisfaction and socioeconomic threat perception. According to this
result, it can be said that less satisfaction with personal economic conditions
led to less political trust, which then resulted in greater socioeconomic threat
perception toward refugees. The results were discussed in the light of previous
findings, Integrated Threat Theory, Realistic Group Threat Theory, and System
Justification Theory. Lastly, limitations and suggestions for future research were
evaluated in the discussion part of the study.
Centro Studi di Politica Internazionale (CeSPI) Osservatorio Turchia, 2020
In un periodo segnato da una serie di alti e bassi e da varie crisi diplomatiche tra Turchia ed I... more In un periodo segnato da una serie di alti e bassi e da varie crisi diplomatiche tra Turchia ed Israele, Erdogan e Netanyahu - due leader populisti di destra - si scambiano critiche e accuse sulle rispettive politiche nei confronti di curdi e palestinesi: tuttavia, sembrano entrambi interessati a mantenere i reciproci rapporti economici e commerciali.
The competition between Al Qaeda and ISIL over the leadership of the global jihadist movement has... more The competition between Al Qaeda and ISIL over the leadership of the global jihadist movement has already changed security parameters for the Middle East. Moreover, the presence of Al Qaeda and ISIL affiliates in the North Caucasus and Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge may pose a threat to the Caucasian states and Russia if worsening economic and social conditions ease the recruitment process of radical militants. This article focuses on the competitive struggle over resources and dominance between Al Qaeda and ISIL, and the implications for regional security in the Middle East and the Caucasus.
Birikim, May 2014
Son yıllarda Kürt illerindeki siyasi rekabet, esasen Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AKP) ile Barış v... more Son yıllarda Kürt illerindeki siyasi rekabet, esasen Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AKP) ile Barış ve Demokrasi Partisi (BDP) arasında yaşansa da, Kürt siyasetinin çoğulculaşması ve çok sesli hale gelmeye başlaması koşulların değişmesine ve rekabet alanına yeni oluşumların dahil olmasına neden oldu. Hür Dava Partisi, ya da bilinen kısa adıyla Hüda-Par, bu dönemde İslamcı bir Kürt partisi olarak kuruldu. Hüda-Par’ı ilginç kılan, 1990’lı yıllarda işlediği cinayetler ve mezar evler ile toplumsal hafızaya kazınan Hizbullah’ın silahlı terör örgütünden sivil siyaset yapan legal bir partiye dönüşüm sürecinin son aşamasını temsil ediyor olması. 2012 yılının Aralık ayında kurulmasına rağmen çok kısa bir sürede örgütlenme ve kadrolaşma çalışmalarını tamamlayarak 30 Mart yerel seçimlerine katılan Hüda-Par, her ne kadar seçim sonuçları itibariyle beklediği başarıyı yakalayamamış gibi görünse de, yakın gelecekte bölgede AKP ve BDP ile rekabet edebilme potansiyeline sahip önemli bir siyasi oluşum. Güncel Kürt siyasetini analiz ederken Hüda-Par’ın da mutlaka göz önüne alınması gerektiği fikrinden yola çıkan bu çalışma, Kürt Hizbullahı’nı Hüda-Par’a dönüştüren süreci ve bu sürece etki eden sosyal ve siyasal faktörleri ortaya koymayı amaçlıyor.
Turkeyscope - The Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies (MDC), 2018
Although there is no easy solution in sight to the political tension between Turkey and Israel, i... more Although there is no easy solution in sight to the political tension between Turkey and Israel, it seems that music and musicians can play significant roles in building relations at the people-to-people level through mutual cultural and musical exchanges. Music offers a universal common language for those who do not understand Ladino, Turkish, or Hebrew. People just want to have fun and those who come together at a concert neither talk about politics nor about Erdoğan and Netanyahu.
Book Chapters by Asli Elitsoy
50 Soruda Türkiye'nin Göç Politikaları, 2022
Editörler: Jülide Karakoç - H. Deniz Genç
Altınbaş Üniversitesi Yayınları
To Democratize or Not? Trials and Tribulations in the Postcolonial World, Editor(s): Volkan Ipek, Ebru İlter-Akarçay, 2020
Would love to send the full manuscript if requested.
Book Reviews by Asli Elitsoy
Conferences / Presentations / Workshops by Asli Elitsoy
The European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) General Conference, 2022
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Articles by Asli Elitsoy
not necessarily create a misfit. The existence of many private healthcare institutions offering various services to patients with different incomes and operating in informal ways has improved accessibility, availability, affordability, and accommodation and thus affects the fit positively. Therefore, the health reforms that paved the way for privatization, marketization, and commodification of health services in Turkey in the early 2000s also help explain the degree of fit. Migrants suffer most from language barriers in the health system, and there is an alarming decline in acceptability especially for Syrian refugees, who have reported facing discrimination while seeking healthcare.
and Syrian refugees in urban Turkey. It was aimed to explore the mediating role
of political trust in the relationship between personal economic satisfaction and
socioeconomic threat perception toward refugees among the host community.
Accordingly, 243 local urban residents from different cities of Turkey including
Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir were reached using a cross-sectional survey approach
and convenience sample method. Regarding the Turkish political, social and
economic culture and previous studies, assessment tools were generated for
the purpose of this study to measure socioeconomic threat perception, personal
economic satisfaction, political trust, and satisfaction with public policies.
The participants’ age, city, education, gender and income information were
obtained using a demographic form. Data was collected via an online survey
program. Controlling for demographic variables (age, city, education, gender,
and income) and satisfaction with public services, the indirect effect of political
trust was analyzed using a bootstrapping method via PROCESS Macro plug-in
for SPSS. The research findings showed that personal economic satisfaction was
significantly associated with political trust and socioeconomic threat perception.
Moreover, political trust was also significantly related to socioeconomic threat
perception. More importantly, in accordance with the main hypothesis of the
study, it was found that political trust mediated the relationship between personal
economic satisfaction and socioeconomic threat perception. According to this
result, it can be said that less satisfaction with personal economic conditions
led to less political trust, which then resulted in greater socioeconomic threat
perception toward refugees. The results were discussed in the light of previous
findings, Integrated Threat Theory, Realistic Group Threat Theory, and System
Justification Theory. Lastly, limitations and suggestions for future research were
evaluated in the discussion part of the study.
Book Chapters by Asli Elitsoy
Book Reviews by Asli Elitsoy
Conferences / Presentations / Workshops by Asli Elitsoy
not necessarily create a misfit. The existence of many private healthcare institutions offering various services to patients with different incomes and operating in informal ways has improved accessibility, availability, affordability, and accommodation and thus affects the fit positively. Therefore, the health reforms that paved the way for privatization, marketization, and commodification of health services in Turkey in the early 2000s also help explain the degree of fit. Migrants suffer most from language barriers in the health system, and there is an alarming decline in acceptability especially for Syrian refugees, who have reported facing discrimination while seeking healthcare.
and Syrian refugees in urban Turkey. It was aimed to explore the mediating role
of political trust in the relationship between personal economic satisfaction and
socioeconomic threat perception toward refugees among the host community.
Accordingly, 243 local urban residents from different cities of Turkey including
Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir were reached using a cross-sectional survey approach
and convenience sample method. Regarding the Turkish political, social and
economic culture and previous studies, assessment tools were generated for
the purpose of this study to measure socioeconomic threat perception, personal
economic satisfaction, political trust, and satisfaction with public policies.
The participants’ age, city, education, gender and income information were
obtained using a demographic form. Data was collected via an online survey
program. Controlling for demographic variables (age, city, education, gender,
and income) and satisfaction with public services, the indirect effect of political
trust was analyzed using a bootstrapping method via PROCESS Macro plug-in
for SPSS. The research findings showed that personal economic satisfaction was
significantly associated with political trust and socioeconomic threat perception.
Moreover, political trust was also significantly related to socioeconomic threat
perception. More importantly, in accordance with the main hypothesis of the
study, it was found that political trust mediated the relationship between personal
economic satisfaction and socioeconomic threat perception. According to this
result, it can be said that less satisfaction with personal economic conditions
led to less political trust, which then resulted in greater socioeconomic threat
perception toward refugees. The results were discussed in the light of previous
findings, Integrated Threat Theory, Realistic Group Threat Theory, and System
Justification Theory. Lastly, limitations and suggestions for future research were
evaluated in the discussion part of the study.