Rethinking Foreign Policy in Turkey as a Securitized Domain: The Case of Cyprus

Abstract

The implications of the Cyprus issue in contemporary Turkish domestic and foreign policies are far more complicated than in previous decades. Particularly with the beginning of the new millennium the heavily securitized and successfully bureaucratised Cyprus issue has turned out to be the main" discursive battlefield" of the polarisation among the ruling elites in Turkey. The present article aims at re-examining Turkey's security discourse on Cyprus with particular reference to its implications in the (re)configuration of political balances and power relations between the conservative state elite and the reformist political elite in Turkey. In this respect, it concludes that the security language premised on the constant assertion of such concepts as "national defence and security, national unity and integrity, geo-strategic importance and vital threats" has been operational in inscribing the legitimate boundaries of the political sphere.

Keywords

Securitization, Cyprus, Turkish foreign policy, State-society relations

Citation

Kaliber, Alper, "Rethinking Foreign Policy in Turkey as a Securitized Domain: The Case of Cyprus", International Relations, Volume 2, Issue 7 (Fall 2005), pp. 31-60.

Affiliations

• Alper Kaliber, Dr., Sabancı University, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences