Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Oxford Intersections: Borders, Alexander C Diener,Joshua Hagen, Editör, Oxford University Press, London , Oxford, ss.1-19, 2026
Through its unilateral military operations between 2016 and 2020, Türkiye carved out non-contiguous territories in northern Syria, referred to in this article as the Turkish-controlled ‘safe zone’. The official reasons for these operations and the safe zone policy were cited as the maintenance of border security, the prevention of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and Kurdish groups from expanding their territories in Syria, and the facilitation of the return of Syrian refugees. This article examines the psycho-political driving forces behind the creation of the Turkish-controlled ‘safe zone’ in northern Syria, arguing that it fulfils multifaceted functions beyond military and refugee-related objectives. By combining ontological security theory, Ejdus’ concept of ontic space, and Foucault’s notion of panopticism at the theoretical level, and by empirically analysing the zone’s creation, governance practices, and processes of institutional and cultural restructuring, this article argues that the safe zone operates as an inter-jurisdictional ontic space, fulfilling myriad material and symbolic functions. This article thus interprets the safe zone in relation to Türkiye’s status-related ontological insecurities and anxieties deriving from crises and conflicts near its contiguous territory, its desired political imaginary shaped by its neo-Ottomanist codes. Importantly, functioning as a spatial extension of Türkiye, the safe zone operates as a self-constructed buffer that mirrors the historical role Europe imposed upon Türkiye, thereby reproducing and inverting these self–other dynamics on foreign terrain. This article sheds new light on the literature by advancing a new conceptualization of the politics of spatialization beyond borders.