Browsing by Author "Dilek, Esra"

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Open Access
‘Hybridity by Design’: between liberal norms and illiberal peace in Turkey
(Brill - Nijhoff, 2022-11-09) Dilek, Esra
This article investigates the interplay between liberal norms, hybridity, and illiberal peace by proposing ‘hybridity by design’ as a framework for understanding domestic agency of political actors in ‘homegrown’ peace processes. Hybridity by design refers to strategies used in peace processes that are not guided by external third parties for selectively adopting norms and practices associated with the liberal peace model while maintaining an illiberal peacemaking approach. The study focuses on the case of Turkey’s recent experience in peacemaking regarding the Kurdish conflict in two periods. First, the 2009–2015 period is analyzed as a ‘homegrown’ peace process during which ‘hybridity by design’ was the primary strategy used by the government to promote peacemaking combining liberal and illiberal norms and practices. In the post-2015 period, the government emphasized the ‘authentic’ aspects of the Kurdish issue, adopting a friend/enemy discourse, delegitimizing opponents, and rejecting negotiations as a means for solving the conflict.
Open Access
Reconsidering hybridity : the selective use of international norms in Turkey’s resolution/peace process
(2019-01) Dilek, Esra
This study examines the diffusion of international peacebuilding norms in the case of Turkey’s resolution/peace process for solving the Kurdish issue (2009-2015) as a case of peace process in the absence of top-down design through a third party. The study builds on the limitations of current research on hybridity that focuses on the interaction of international and local norms and practices in peace processes designed and implemented by international actors such as the United Nations and donor organizations. The study calls for broadening and deepening the hybridity debate by investigating the dynamics of local agency in a case where the top-down design of the peace process is absent. Drawing on 34 in-depth open-ended interviews with high and middle level actors in the peace process in Turkey and data collected through the media statements of primary actors, this study argues that in the absence of top-down design of the peace process, the dynamics of hybridization are different, as, actors have greater freedom for promoting their own perspectives on peace process design. This study finds that in the Turkish case we discern ‘hybridity by design’, defined as the strategies used by local actors to support and promote peace process perspectives by selectively adopting and/or rejecting international norms, ideas, and practices to legitimize their own position in the absence of top-down design of the peace process. The Turkish case points to further findings on conflict resolution expertise sharing and its impact on the diffusion of norms and practices in peace processes in the absence of top-down imposition.
Open Access
Rethinking the role of track two diplomacy in conflict resolution: the democratic progress institute’s Turkey programme
(Routledge, 2021-04-05) Dilek, Esra
The article examines the Democratic Progress Institute’s (DPI) Turkey program as a Track Two comparative consultation initiative applied in the case of Turkey’s peace process regarding the Kurdish conflict, commonly known as the ‘resolution/peace process’ (2012–2015). Based on interviews with high- and middle-level actors participating in events organized by the DPI, the article investigates the extent the initiative reached its purposes of building capacities for peace through the dissemination of comparative insights on peacemaking and generating a joint understanding between the conflict representatives. While Turkish and Kurdish participants adopted comparative insights they gained from the DPI study trips and workshops, by learning lessons related to the negotiation process and practical matters, they partially sought to ‘fit’ those insights into their own perspectives and prior beliefs. The findings point to motivated reasoning and confirmation bias for issues that remained controversial throughout the public peace process in Turkey, mainly Disarmament-Demobilization-Reintegration (DDR) and transitional justice.
Open Access
Securitizing migration in the European Union: Greece and the Evros fence
(Routledge, 2019) Grigoriadis, Ioannis N.; Dilek, Esra
This article focuses on the securitization of migration in Greece through the case of the Evros anti-immigrant fence. The fence was constructed in 2012 with the aim to limit the flow of irregular migration from Turkey to Greece. This paper explores the reasons why the Greek government decided to build the fence and its political implications by focusing on the securitization of migration in Greece both through practices and through securitizing rhetoric. The paper argues that the construction of the Evros fence is closely associated with changing perceptions of threat and the framing of migrants as risky and threatening both at the national and the EU levels.
Open Access
Struggling for the Kurdish vote: religion, ethnicity and victimhood in AKP and BDP/HDP rally speeches
(Routledge, 2018) Grigoriadis, Ioannis N.; Dilek, Esra
This study explores the competition for Turkey's Kurdish vote through the instrumentalization of religion, ethnicity and victimhood in political competition. This becomes possible through the study of rally speeches of the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi – AKP), the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (Barış ve Demokrasi Partisi – BDP) and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (Halkların Demokratik Partisi – HDP), in Turkey's June 2011 and June 2015 general elections. The AKP campaigns framed the resolution of the Kurdish issue along with an updated version of the ‘Turkish Islamic Synthesis’. The issue of ethnicity was toned down in contrast to the idea of common victimhood of pious Turkish and Kurdish Muslims in republican Turkey. On the other hand, the BDP/HDP moved from a more ethnic-oriented and exclusive identity approach in 2011 to a more inclusive, liberal and extrovert agenda based on a civic definition of Turkish national identity in 2015. Religion and victimhood appear as the two most enduring symbolic resources for political party mobilization.