International Law in Turkish

Abstract

It is difficult to speak of a distinctly “Turkish” approach to international law. First, by and large, Turkish academics do not pretend to represent a systematic worldview that challenges the established norms and practices of international law. Second, they mostly have no claims about presenting views, ideas, and concepts that enrich existing international law. Finally, there is no evidence to suggest that Turkish scholars of international law share the official view of Turkey, roughly over the last two decades, as a “central state” and a “rising power.” Another peculiarity of the international legal discipline in Turkey is its lack of interest in Turkey’s historical past, in particular the Ottoman Empire. This is possibly one of the reasons behind the overall aridity of the international legal literature in Turkey. Even today, most of the Turkish jurists appear Eurocentric/Western-centric in the way they conceive international law. Accordingly, they are likely to show scant interest in legal disputes, developments, or ideas originating in Asia, Africa, and Latin America unless they are taken up by Western scholars. This one-way dependence on the Western literature may also partly account for the positivist bias prevailing in Turkey. The rarity of interdisciplinary analysis of international legal issues is another distinguishing feature of the literature in Turkish. Nonetheless, increasing publications by the new generations of jurists in Turkey have undoubtedly broadened the thematic scope of international legal analysis. Currently, in addition to the classical topics of international law, Turkish monographic studies, which mostly originate in doctoral theses, and academic articles delve into issues such as the right of self-determination, human rights and humanitarian law, and, less frequently, the history of international law, jus cogens norms in international law, globalization and international law, Third World approaches to international law, and some problematical aspects of the UN system from the perspective of international law. This bibliographical study does not include studies that fall under the umbrella of the European Union law or human rights, simply because these branches of international law have become separate disciplines or subdisciplines on their own in Turkey. Besides, Turkish academic publications in these two areas are so numerous that it doesn’t seem sensible to list them as a subheading of international legal analysis in this bibliographical study. Granting that Turkish scholars of international law have shown scant interest in the area of “Islam and international law,” this topic is not incorporated in this entry either. Currently, in Turkey, there is no academic journal specializing solely in public international law. However, Milletlerarası Hukuk ve Milletlerarası Özel Hukuk Bülteni (Public and Private International Law Bulletin), published since 1981 by the Law Faculty of Istanbul University, incorporates articles, book reviews, and case law on both branches of international law.