Desecuritizations in the Relations of Turkey and Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government (IKRG): Years between 2008 and 2016

Turkey has adopted a kind of security based relationship with Iraqi Kurdish region since the establishment of the republic as this region was thought to be generating a potential threat to the constructed identity and the established nation state. The attacks of the PKK from the northern Iraq starting from 1980s and later on the emergence of some entities posing existential threat to Turkey in this region as a result of wars or civil wars in the Middle East were the main reasons for the securitization of the relations between Turkey and Iraqi Kurdish region. However, starting from mid-2000s, this security-based relationship was concluded. In this respect, there were great changes in the relations of Turkey and Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government between 2008-2016. In parallel with this paradigm shift in the relations, several issues were taken out from the security field and they were started to be discussed in the field of politics. That’s, these issues were desecuritized. High-level meetings, cooperation in the field of energy, the common struggle against the ISIS and the cooperation in the field of education were the main components of the desecuritization in this period