Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu’s ascent to the leadership of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) in May 2010 represents the rise of a social democratic challenge to the current securitized policy discourse and practice in Turkey. CHP’s recent attempts to balance state and human security have the potential to institutionalize a comprehensive security approach that is in line with worldwide developments. CHP’s comprehensive security framework, based on an unequivocal commitment to fundamental rights and freedoms as well as progressive social policies, has the potential to offer sustainable solutions to Turkey’s existential security dilemmas. In turn; this could play a decisive role in shaping not only Turkey’s national policy, but also its regional and global orientation.