MEHMET ILHANLI

Ph.D. Student

Research Title: Economic Corridors and Conflict Management: The Kurdish Question in Turkey’s Economic Corridor Strategy
Research Group: Political, Economies And Space (PEAS)
Thesis Advisor: Prof James D Sidaway

My research will examine Turkey’s economic corridor narratives in relation to the Kurdish conflict and wider “transnational” corridor visions, through the lenses of critical geopolitics. While often framed as tools for regional development and integration, economic corridors also function as instruments of state security, conflict management, and territorial control, as seen in the Turkish case. Situating this study within broader debates about “corridorization”, it investigates how geopolitical and geoeconomic narratives are entangled with security objectives. Through an analysis of policy documents, elite discourse and other narratives, my research contributes to understanding these intersections in contested spaces.