Ufuk NECAT TAŞÇI

In this study, the role of commercial diplomacy in eliminating ontological security and ontological security-based concerns, which recent studies have further increased, is questioned. Turkey, a regional power that has placed trade at the top of its foreign policy priorities in recent years, has tried to address its relations with the Northern Iraqi Regional Government within the framework of the security threat posed by the PKK terrorist organization. Having eliminated many short-, medium- and long-term bilateral crises in foreign policy by using commercial diplomacy, Turkey has stopped short of making concessions on certain security sensitivities in line with the presence of the PKK terrorist organization in the Northern Iraqi region, where ontological security concerns are felt intensely. This study, which deals with the events in Turkish foreign policy, which also places commercial relations in an important place in solving the problems in bilateral relations, aims to reveal that even commercial diplomacy is sometimes insufficient to address ontological security concerns. Especially in Turkish foreign policy, which has undergone a reformist, proactive transformation since the beginning of the 2000s, it has been observed that realism has the last word on behalf of Turkey and other countries regarding survival. Ontological security concerns have been triggered in cases where physical security is the main actor of the state, and even commercial interests have remained in the second place when it comes to ‘anxiety’. To eliminate this concern, the strategy of trying to stop physical security concerns by using interdependent relationships has been invalidated in such issues as terrorism, which is realistically considered a threat to physical security.

Keywords: Ontological Security, Foreign Policy, Turkish Foreign Policy, Commercial Diplomacy