Ethno-Religious Cleansing of Western Europe Published in International Security, the Leading Journal of International Relations
TÜBA Associate Member Prof. Şener Aktürk's article "Not So Innocent: Clerics, Monarchs, and the Ethnoreligious Cleansing of Western Europe", which he submitted as a project within the scope of TÜBA GEBİP (Outstanding Young Scientist Awards Program), was published in the journal International Security.
TÜBA GEBİP Award winner and Koç University Faculty Member Prof. Aktürk's study "Not So Innocent: Clerics, Monarchs, and the Ethnoreligious Cleansing of Western Europe", titled "Not So Innocent: Clerics, Monarchs, and the Ethnoreligious Cleansing of Western Europe", which he has been working on for 8 years, was published in International Security, one of the most prestigious journals in the field of international relations. The study, which focuses on massacres, exile and forced mass conversions, genocide, ethnic cleansing, demographic engineering, religion-sect, nationalism, conflict, security and identity, has taken its place in the journal, which ranks 2nd in the world in terms of impact factor in the field of international relations. Making a statement on the subject, Prof. Aktürk emphasized the importance of the journal for the field and reminded that the study was written with the support of TÜBA. He stated that the research could be developed in the future and thanked TÜBA. Aktürk: "Our aim in the publication is to develop a new theoretical explanation of ethno-religious cleansing through a new empirical focus and a large number of cases that have never been studied before. The study is a challenge to the models of ethno-religious cleansing that scholars have defined based on modern nationalist conflicts. The fierce geopolitical competition for survival in medieval Western Europe was critical. This was because the papacy and the clergy directed rulers to exterminate non-Christians and even forced them to comply with their demands. This included the extermination of most Jews and all Muslims. Monarchs who stood against this risked being deposed, killed and replaced by another monarch. I argue that the multidimensional ethno-religious cleansing that took place in Western Europe during the Middle Ages was the result of a transnational religious (Gregorian) reform movement that led to the rise of the clergy. In the process of their rise to power, the clergy also spearheaded a doctrinal shift that dehumanized Jews and Muslims. Thus, there was no longer any obstacle to the murder of Muslims and Jews, who were no longer considered human beings. It was the Gregorian Reformation that made it possible and motivated the clergy, led by the papacy, to become powerful enough to subjugate monarchs to the mass extermination of non-Christians starting in the eleventh century. This movement significantly increased the powers of the papacy and the clergy, the main actors responsible for the extermination of non-Christians."
Click here for the full text of the article: https://direct.mit.edu/isec/article/48/4/87/121307/Not-So-Innocent-Clerics-Monarchs-and-the
Who is Prof. Şener Aktürk?
He was born in 1981 in Izmit. He completed his secondary and high school education at Koç Private High School. He received his bachelor's degree in Political Science and International Studies (double major) at the University of Chicago between 1999-2003 and his first master's degree in International Relations, also at the University of Chicago. During his undergraduate studies, in 2001, he was in Vienna for a German and Western Civilization study program. He completed his second MA and PhD in Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley from 2003 to 2009. As part of her doctoral program, she conducted field research in Berlin and Moscow. In the 2009-2010 academic year, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University, Davis. He taught graduate courses at the Political Science Department of the same university. Since his return to Türkiye in the second half of 2010, he has been assistant professor (2009-2015), associate professor (2015-2022) and professor in the Department of International Relations at Koç University.
As of 2023, Şener Aktürk has published 15 articles in SSCI indexed journals, 12 of which are single authored. As of November 30, 2023, his H-index was 22 and i10 index was 40 in Google Scholar based on citations to his publications. Aktürk's book Regimes of Ethnicity and Nationhood in Germany, Russia, and Türkiye, published by Cambridge University Press in 2012, was awarded the 2013 Joseph Rothschild Book Prize.
Şener Aktürk was the first Turkish author to have an article published in World Politics, the highest impact factor journal in the field of International Relations in 2011 and in Post-Soviet Affairs, one of the highest impact factors in the field of Regional Studies in 2010. In 2017, he published a single-authored article in the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, which has the highest impact factor in the field of Ethnic Studies, and a two-authored article in Perspectives on Politics, the journal of the American Political Science Association, in 2021. In addition, he has published articles in SSCI journals Comparative Politics, Mediterranean Politics, Social Science Quarterly, European Journal of Sociology, Nationalities Papers, Problems of Post-Communism, Turkish Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Osteuropa and International Relations. He has published 34 articles in different academic journals such as Theoria, Ab Imperio, All Azimuth, Insight Turkey, Turkish Policy Quarterly, Central Eurasian Studies Review, Perceptions and Doğu Batı, which are not included in SSCI, and 20 book chapters and 24 book reviews in English, Russian and Turkish. His book titled Türkiye'nin Kimlikleri (Turkiye's Identities), which includes his articles and essays in Turkish, was published in 2013.
By definition of the field of Comparative Politics, Aktürk's comparative publications on countries other than Türkiye include publications focusing on the cases of USA, Afghanistan, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Algeria, France, Netherlands, Iran, North Macedonia, Egypt, Pakistan, Russia and Greece. In addition to these countries, the cases he has focused on in his ongoing studies include Denmark, England, Spain, Israel, Sweden, Italy, Iceland, Lithuania, Hungary, Norway, Poland and Portugal.
Şener Aktürk has been awarded numerous accolades including the TÜBİTAK Incentive Award (2019), Koç University Research Award (2019-2020), Science Academy BAGEP Award (2017), Koç University Outstanding Educator Award (2017), TÜBA GEBİP Award (2016), Kadir Has Promising Young Scientist Award (2015), Joseph Rothschild Award (2013), Baki Komsuoğlu Incentive Award (2011), Sakıp Sabancı International Research Award (3rd place, 2010), Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award from the University of California (2009), and the Peter Odegard Award from the University of California, Department of Political Science (2006). Aktürk's research on gathering data on state ethnic and religious policies in 173 countries was supported by the European Commission Marie Curie Reintegration Grant (100,000 Euros) from 2010 to 2014. In December 2023, he was elected as an Associate Member to TÜBA (Turkish Academy of Sciences).