Fire burns where it falls: A vernacular security approach to 2021 forest fires in Turkey

2025-5
Çöpoğlu, Muhammed Onur
In the summer of 2021, Turkey faced the most severe forest fires in its history. The issue went beyond an “environmental” crisis as it led to the deforestation of a large area and turned into a “political crisis” between the government and the people, as well as a “security crisis” as 8 people lost their lives, thousands were left homeless, and the ecosystem was endangered. This thesis explores how those fires came to be understood not just as an environmental catastrophe, but also as a complex security problem. Adopting “vernacular” security approach from the field of critical security studies, this thesis compares the official government narrative on the fires with how local communities themselves perceived and talked about them. The thesis draws on official speeches, policy documents, and press releases for the official (elite) narrative, while semi-structured interviews with local people and forest villagers in the fire-affected districts capture the vernacular narrative on the issue. Building on qualitative content analysis via MAXQDA, the thesis highlights a disconnect between the official and the vernacular narratives on the same phenomenon. In conclusion, the thesis confirms the vernacular security approach emphasising that security is not a homogenous concept and reveals the potential of forest villagers as security providers during the 2021 forest fires in Turkey, thereby providing an empirical example of community-based indigenous fire management practices.
Citation Formats
M. O. Çöpoğlu, “Fire burns where it falls: A vernacular security approach to 2021 forest fires in Turkey,” Ph.D. - Doctoral Program, Middle East Technical University, 2025.