Security Horizons

Security Horizons

Sèvres Syndrome and Survival Anxiety: Explaining the Continuity of Turkey's Security Policies toward the Kurdish Issue through the Lens of Ontological Security (1920-2025)

Document Type : Original Article

Author
Department of Law and political Science, Ne.C., Islamic Azad University, Neyshabur, Iran.
Abstract
This article examines the deep-structural roots underlying the continuity of the Republic of Turkey's security policies regarding the Kurdish issue, employing the theoretical framework of Ontological Security. The primary research question investigates why the Turkish state—despite possessing extensive military capabilities, significant economic development, and NATO membership—continues to operate under the survival anxiety stemming from the Treaty of Sèvres. The findings indicate that the Turkish state, in order to maintain the stability of its national identity and the continuity of its autobiographical narrative, has become attached to the conflict with the Kurdish issue, treating it as an ontological Other. By analyzing recent developments in Syria and Iraq (2023-2025), this study elucidates how phantasmatic narratives of the 'New Turkey', crafted in opposition to the Sèvres Syndrome, function as strategic tools for managing collective anxiety. These narratives reproduce state agency in an insecure regional environment and legitimize cross-border military operations. Ultimately, the article concludes that ontological security has superseded physical security for the ruling elites in Ankara, thereby impeding the departure from conflict routines and the transition toward sustainable political solutions.
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Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 20 September 2026

  • Receive Date 25 May 2026
  • Revise Date 20 June 2026
  • Accept Date 20 September 2026
  • Publish Date 20 September 2026