Reimagination of Turkey: The Emergence and Challenges of Post-Kemalist Nation-State Identity (2001-2011)

This research investigates the emergence of Turkey’s post-Kemalist nation-state identity and its challenges in the post-9/11 era. By challenging the argument that there is essentially one understanding of Turkey’s identity, it exposes competing perspectives on Turkey’s new identity and its place in the world. To reveal the process of domestic power struggle in maintaining and transforming Turkey’s Kemalist identity, the study takes Ruth Wodak’s Discourse-Historical Approach in a search of different discourses on Turkish national identity and foreign policy in Turkish media from 2001 to 2011. On the historical context of Turkish politics in the post-9/11 period, the study argues that Turkey’s post-Kemalist identity crisis in the last decade has shaped both Turkish nation-state identity and foreign policy discourse which has directly targeted the Kemalist and Europeanist world view and empowered the nation’s Muslim and non-European perception of ‘self’ and the perception of Turkey’s place in the world. In this context, this study makes a significant contribution to Turkish politics, nationalism and media studies through a critical observation of different political positions and antagonisms in Turkish media discourse, considering the changes and challenges within the conceptions of new Turkey's identity