Browsing by Author "Ermihan, Erman"

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Emotions and norms in the Syrian refugee crisis: the comparative responses of the EU and Turkey
(Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2024) Ermihan, Erman; Acikmese, Sinem Akgul
This paper delves into the evolving research area of emotions and norms within international relations, focusing on the EU-Turkey dynamics amid the Syrian refugee crisis. Utilizing Emotion Discourse Analysis (EDA), it examines discourses from key EU and Turkish leaders between 2011 and 2023 to understand how their emotional responses to Syrian refugees influence the universal norm of human rights. Since the specific interconnection between leadership emotions and human rights norms remains largely unexplored, this study seeks to fill this gap by examining how emotions expressed by leadership in Turkey and the EU variously challenge, protect, or construct human rights norms related to Syrian refugees. Preliminary findings reveal contrasting emotional expressions: while President Erdo & gbreve;an's discourse often aligns with the protection and construction of human rights norms, EU leaders' emotions reflect a tension between human rights commitments and border security priorities.
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End of jouissance, start of resentment: a Lacanian critical security approach to Turkey's relations with the West
(Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2024) Ermihan, Erman
Believing that the emotional turn in IR would benefit from psychoanalysis greatly, this study applies the Lacanian concept of 'jouissance', the emotional IR concept of 'resentment', and 'emancipation' as part of the Welsh School in IR to Turkey's relations with the EU, by pointing out a visible move from former to the latter since the Helsinki Summit in 1999 until today. As known, jouissance refers to physical and/or intellectual joy, whereas resentment roots in being treated unfairly. By dividing the period mentioned above into four, 1999-2005; the period of jouissance, 2005-2011; end of jouissance, 2011-2016; transition to resentment, and 2016-2023; emancipation, the paper analyzes leader discourses of both sides through EDA, the current President of Turkey; Recep Tayyip Erdogan; and the leaders of the European Council and European Commission, to unravel the transition. For Turkey, the AKP government utilised discourses that transitioned from jouissance to emancipation, especially after 2005, whereas the EU discourses started with jouissance and moved onto emancipation and then neutrality. As the recipient side of the accession, the EU discourses remain on the technical accession negotiations and the issue of migration after 2011 rather than engaging in any emotional attachment to Turkey's membership process.
Citation Count: 0
Feeling Imagined Spaces: Emotional Geographies in the EU-Turkey Relations
(Uluslararasi Iliskiler Konseyi Dernegi, 2023) Karamik, Irem; Ermihan, Erman
Geographies and borders have become often-debated concepts, especially in the view of the increasing impact of globalization and regional integration processes. In such cases, borders are attributed certain imagined meanings and more so, they are associated with feelings. Considering such dynamics, EU-Turkey relations can be considered a good example of how borders, emotions and spatial dimensions interact. However, not much attention has been given to the emotional facets of spatial relations. By utilizing the concept of hot places, this study tries to fill this void. We separate EU-Turkey relations into three phases: the Cold War, post-Cold War, and the peak of migration politics, driven by the Syrian Civil War. We argue that there is a specific hot place for each of these periods: Kreuzberg, Berlin for the period between 1959 and 1989, Cyprus for the post-Cold War period, and the Syrian conflict for the last period. Thus, this paper aims at suggesting a novel approach to the study of emotions, spatiality, and EU-Turkey relations.
Citation Count: 0
International Relations in Turkey Education: New Approaches, New Methods
(Uluslararasi Iliskiler Konseyi Dernegi, 2021) Ermihan, Erman
[Abstract Not Available]
Citation Count: 0
Quo Vadis, Turkish IR? Mapping Turkish IR's Footsteps within the Global
(Center Foreign Policy & Peace Research, 2023) Karamik, Irem; Ermihan, Erman
The International Relations (IR) discipline is ascendant because of the theoretical and methodological divisions and controversies within. As it is mostly placed in the Non-Western IR category, Turkish IR is an interesting case in that it reveals the temporal changes of theoretical debates in IR and their local resonance from the purview of a geography that is jammed between the West and the rest. For this reason, this paper examines the literature on the Turkish School of IR (if there is any) and draws some conclusions regarding its current state. This research first utilizes the Teaching, Research, and International Policy (TRIP) surveys conducted by the International Relations Council of Turkey (IRCT) between 2007 and 2018. More extensively, the top 20 journals categorized under Google Scholar's Diplomacy and International Relations list are coded based on their titles containing Turkey. Articles from the 1922-2021 period are then analyzed considering their authors, abstracts, and keywords. From this analysis, the study finds that studies focusing on Turkey have improved over the years, although there is a need for more theoretical and methodological advancements. As a peripheral country in IR, Turkey is still a subject of study by the center countries.
The Self and the Other: Individual Emotions and Ontological Security in Turkish Foreign Policy
(Sage Publications inc, 2024) Sofuoglu, Nasuh; Sharani, Samer; Ermihan, Erman
Emotions and ontological security open up one of the latest avenues in International Relations (IR). An increasing number of interdisciplinary approaches have been engaging in emotions and ontological security, for example, foreign policy analysis. However, academic research is scarce concerning the triangulation of emotions, foreign policy, and individual ontological security. Driven by the gap in the literature, the study analyzes how Turkey's foreign policy decisions influence individual existentialism in terms of ontological security during the AKP era. A subsidiary question addresses how Turkey's foreign policy decisions adjust/affect individual emotions towards its most engaged and interacted countries. Based on Ontological Security Theory (OST), the study has conducted 20 interviews. The questions cover Turkey's foreign policy milestones: the start of the EU accession negotiations, the "one minute incident," the Mavi Marmara incident, and the Arab Uprisings and the Syrian Civil War. The questions aim to reveal people's emotional reactions to and descriptions of such events. The interview transcripts are analyzed in a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) context. Through CDA, the individuals' perceptions of risk, threat, and danger are analyzed to seek the determinants of growing existential uncertainty in tandem with significant foreign policy decisions of the AKP government. This study finds that foreign policy decisions in Turkey impact individuals' emotions based on key events. Through the case of Turkey, the study contributes to the emerging literature on emotions and ontological security by studying the dimensions between foreign policy and individual insecurities and emotions.