JLP Journal of Law And Politics JLP 2671-342X 2671-3438 Balkan University Press 10.69648/XZZB2660 210 Research Article The Rational Actor Approach in the Kurdish Initiative’s Demonstration of Ontological Security in Turkish Foreign Policy Kasum İsa Ankara University, Ankara, Türkiye 01 04 2026 7 1 71 87 CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

The Kurdish Initiative, led by the Justice and Development Party (AKP), aimed to integrate the Kurds who constitute the majority in many provinces of the Southeast but are considered a minority within the national framework of the Republic of Türkiye into the system and to reduce the influence of organizations like the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party), which has been a source of conflict in the country for thirty years. However, in later stages, the AKP administration pursued a rational actor approach on behalf of the Republic of Türkiye, ultimately seeking to prevent the establishment of a Kurdish state, whether through cross-border operations in Syria or occasional targeted operations against high-ranking PKK leaders in Northern Iraq.

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