The making of a state-centered "public sphere" in Turkey : a discourse analysis

Abstract

Why is it that state-centered recognition of the public sphere has prevailed in Turkey during the last decade? The frame analysis of the “public sphere†discourse during the 2002-2009 period revealed that the contingency of the discourse on the Islamic headscarf issue discouraged an essential understanding of the authentic public sphere. Secularists framed the public sphere as a politically neutral arena that must be protected by the state. By contrast, pro-Islamists initially counter-framed the public sphere positively, in line with the Habermasian definition. Yet, in the face of stiff opposition from the secularists, the pro-Islamists came to adopt a negative counter-frame implying that the public sphere impinged on the freedom of wearing a headscarf. As a result, both the secularists’ and pro-Islamists’ frames entrenched the general recognition of the state-centered public sphere in Turkish society.Turkey, Social problems, Social conditions, Public administration, Urban societies, Community, Public sphere, Discourse analysis