Abstract:

The Arab uprising protests spread into Syria after a short time, which turned into a civil war when the Syrian government attacked protesters. The civil war caused hundreds of thousands of people’s lives since its initiation in 2011 and brought about political, economic, socio-cultural and security issues. Turkey has been one of the most affected countries of the war in Syria. DAESH (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) and PYD/YPG (Democratic Union Party/People’s Defence Units) terrorist organisations, the US and Russia’s rivalry to take the region under control, the competing interests of the regional powers of the Middle East posed security threats for Turkey. However, this issue has not been sufficiently assessed in the existing scholarly literature. In order to fill this gap, the article offers a bilateral analysis to understand Turkey’s security concerns: the spillover effect and the issue of refugees. This article uses official reports published by the Turkish and British governments and the US administration as primary sources. These sources are complemented through the speeches of Turkish officials to comprehend Turkey’s security perception in regard to the Syrian civil war. The article claims that the Syrian civil war has caused a threat towards Turkey’s security through the attacks of the terrorist organisations. However, the article has found that Syrian refugees have not caused any major security issues since the beginning of the conflict.

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