Terrorism Studies in Turkey: An Analysis of Graduate Thesis and Program Curriculum

30.01.2022 | Merve SEREN , Elif GÜLTEKİN

Since its establishment, Turkey, which has been the target of various domestic and foreign terrorist organizations that differ from each other in terms of their goals, motivations, methods, opportunities, and capabilities, brought together the knowledge and experience accumulated for decades in the fight against terrorism with the academia at a very late stage. In fact, although Turkey’s academic awareness of terrorism studies increased at an earlier stage; it is possible to say that mental transformation and preparation are not parallel to the process and level of institutionalization. The main reason for this is the late emergence of the institutionalization of terrorism studies in Turkey and the ongoing effort for institutionalization. As a matter of fact, this article examines why the academic interest in terrorism and terrorism-related issues, which has been gradually increasing in Turkey since the early 2000s, still cannot take institutionalization to the desired level as well as its concrete output reflected in graduate thesis studies at the same time. The quantitative findings revealed by the data collected on graduate thesis studies suggest that Turkish literature on terrorism is rapidly enriching; however, the scope and content of dissertations, the inadequacy of academic programs, academic experts and curriculum indicate a pessimistic outlook for the quality of the future terrorism research.

Seren, M. ve Gültekin, E. (2022). Terrorism Studies in Turkey: An Analysis of Graduate Thesis and Program Curriculum. Journal of Terrorism and Radicalization Studies, 1(1), pp. 22-66, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.29228/trad.2