This thesis explores how the AKP’s discourse on national security constructed Turkey’s national identity and defined threats during two major domestic crises: the Gezi Protests and the Peace...Show moreThis thesis explores how the AKP’s discourse on national security constructed Turkey’s national identity and defined threats during two major domestic crises: the Gezi Protests and the Peace Process between Turkey and the PKK. Through a theoretical framework drawing from securitization and ontological security theory, it provides a discourse analysis in order to determine how AKP officials constructed these events as a threat, identified them as a national emergency, legitimized the application of extraordinary measures against them, and rejected legitimate alternatives. Further, it studies the implications of this construction of identity and (in)security on ontological security, and argues that an appreciation of these implications helps provide significant insights on the nexus of identity and (in)security in contemporary Turkey.Show less
