Rearticulation of Turkish foreign policy its impacts on national/state identity and state society relations in Turkey : the Cyprus case

Cataloged from PDF version of article.The central problematic of this dissertation is how, in what ways and to what extent ‘foreign’ political discourses and representations are instrumentalized by the state apparatus in the constitution and maintenance of domestic political order and state identity in a given polity. In that respect, this study assuming a dialogical interplay between internal and international political processes and structures aims to re-examine and problematize the Turkish official discourse on the Cyprus question. Doing this, it is intended for critically questioning the role and impact of those discourses in the reproduction of the state identity and the state society relations in Turkey. Despite an increasing body of contemporary literature on the question, there still exists an urgent need for a brand new approach critically examining Turkey’s official Cyprus discourse from the viewpoint of power/domination relations in Turkey. This dissertation considering the restrictions and weaknesses of the mainstream scholarship proposes a new conceptual/analytical framework and research agenda facilitating the reassessment of Cyprus question and its implications in restructuring and/or securing the domestic politics in Turkey. In this context, the main argument of this thesis work is that the modes in which the Cyprus question is discursively framed and/or represented by the Turkish state elite within domestic politics are inherent to the reconstruction of state society relations and state identity in Turkey. Drawing on the post-structuralist and constructivist IR theories, I do propose that the official and mainstream understandings coding and fixing the Cyprus dispute primarily as an issue of state’s security and ‘a national cause’ around which the unity and cohesion of Turkish society should necessarily be guaranteed has a two-fold function: First, they ensure the continual reorganization of Turkish political life in full conformity with the priorities and policy objectives articulated by the state elite. This grants them the power and capacity of inscribing the boundaries of the political space and disciplining the political imagination. Second, they ensure the maintenance of the state society relations in its conventional and hierarchical terms in such a way as to reproduce the former’s supremacy over and independence from the latter.Kaliber, AlperPh.D

Engaging minorities under emergency : Turkish modular emergency and the Kurdish case revisited

Minorities are particularly vulnerable during times of emergency, particularly those that challenge the state. However, it is not understood how minorities can be targeted through emergency decrees despite the government agreeing they had nothing to do with the reasons for declaring the state of emergency. The Turkish emergency in 2016 highlights this little-understood tendency where the government constructed an emergency around a threat from coup plotters, but then much of the subsequent extraordinary legislation targeted the Kurdish minority. We argue that this was possible because the Turkish government engaged in modular emergency rule. Modular emergency rule combines modes of ordinary rule with emergency powers, thus blurring the boundaries between the two. Emergency measures were laid on top of already existing policies that sought to restrict Kurdish politics in public life. In this way, modular emergency rule became more than just a transient form of government

Conflict society and the transformation of Turkey's Kurdish question

Nathalie Tocci; Alper Kalibe

Is Turkey De-Europeanising: Encounters with Europe in a Candidate Country

This comprehensive edited volume conceptually develops the notion of ‘de-Europeanisation’ as an important development in the literature on Europeanisation, and applies it specifically to the case of Turkey. ‘De-Europeanisation’ is defined as the loss or weakening of the EU/Europe as a normative/political context and as a reference point in domestic settings and national public debates of both candidate and member countries. ‘De-Europeanisation’ manifests itself in two basic ways: as the weakening of the appeal and influential capacity of European institutions, policies, norms and values, leading to a retreat of EU/ Europe as a normative/political context for society and politics in a candidate/member state; and as growing scepticism and indifference in a given society towards the EU/Europe, risking the legitimacy of the EU/Europe as a reference point in cases even where reform is incurred. Using this concept, the authors analyse the diminishing impact of the EU in Turkish governance and politics after the opening of accession negotiations in October 2005. The relevance of ‘de-Europeanisation’ is investigated through ten chapters focusing on key policy areas including education, migration, democracy, the rule of law and media freedoms, and a number of key actors including civil society organisations, political parties and political leaders. This book was originally published as a special issue of South European Society and Politics