Reassessment of Turkey’s Objections to the Exclusion of Terrorism from the Rome Statute

Abstract

Criminal justice response to terrorism and to the support for terrorism is still a hot topic in Turkey due to ongoing American military support for the PYD, which is Syrian wing of the internationally designated terrorist organization PKK whose indiscriminate attacks in Turkey has claimed lives of thousands of civilians. This article first discusses, in light of recent developments, whether exclusion of a separate crime of terrorism from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court can be a valid argument against Turkey’s accession to it. After discovering some of the possible contributions of Turkey’s Rome Statute accession to its decades-long struggle against terrorism, this study concludes that Turkey’s all other concerns regarding the accession should be periodically reevaluated.

Keywords

ICC, Turkey, PKK, Terrorism, Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

Citation

Kurtuluş, Şehmus, “Reassessment of Turkey’s Objections to the Exclusion of Terrorism from the Rome Statute“, Uluslararasi İliskiler, Vol. 16, No. 64, 2019, pp. 145-161, DOI: 10.33458/uidergisi.653027

Affiliations

• Şehmus KURTULUŞ, Assist. Prof. Dr., Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Munzur University