Foreign Terrorist Fighters and Turkey: An Assessment at the First Year of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2178

As the conflicts in Syria and Iraq have been continuing for more than four years, the role of Turkey as a potential transit route for the movement of Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTFs) has been a subject of intensive debate. Turkey is largely an end-user of the FTF travels and, surely, every failure at prevention of travels is yet another threat to Turkey’s security. As of September 2015, as a result of five terrorist engagements by FTFs against Turkey, 41 people have been killed and more than 510 people have been wounded. These casualties show the level of threat perception of Turkey. That’s to say, the international cooperation has been improving, though it is hardly sufficient to achieve the international community’s expectations as stated in the UN Security Council Resolution 2178.