Türkiye siyasi tarihi, çoğunlukla siyasal kutuplaşmaların mücadelesi ile geçti. Bu mücadelenin başat aktörleri ise devletin ve Batıcı eğiliminin muhafızlığını üstlenen Kemalist zihniyet ile Osmanlı’nın kültürel mirasını sahiplenen muhafazakâr zihniyet oldu. Söz konusu aktörler sadece iç politikada çatışma halinde olmakla kalmadı aynı zamanda dış politikayı da bu mücadelenin bir parçası haline getirdiler. Osmanlı’nın önemli bir parçası olan Ortadoğu ise hem iç politikada hem de dış politikada bu mücadelenin merkezinde yer aldı. Buradan hareketle, post-yapısalcı teorinin dış politika-iç politika ayrımını sorunsallaştırmasından yola çıkan makale, Türkiye’deki siyasi blokların dış politikayı, iç politikada kendi kimliklerini yeniden inşa etmede araçsallaştırdığını, Türkiye’nin Ortadoğu dış politikasını da bu amaca hizmet eden bir alana dönüştürdüklerini iddia etmektedir. Bu bağlamda makale, Kemalist ve muhafazakâr siyasi cephelerin Ortadoğu tasavvurunu incelemekte; bu tasavvurun birinci olarak iç politikada kendi kimliklerini güçlendirme işini gördüğünü ikinci olarak ise diğer/rakip siyasi söylemleri marjinalleştirme amacı taşıdığını iddia etmektedir. Alternatif siyasi söylemleri inceleyebilmek için analizine çok partili dönem ile başlayacak olan makale, temsillerdeki süreklilikleri ve örüntüleri yakalayabilmek için ise analizini 2010’lu yıllara kadar götürecektir.
Turkish political history has on a large scale passed through the conflict between two political fronts. The Kemalist bloc which takes a position in favor of the new state and its Western orientation, and conservative bloc which tries to protect Ottoman’s cultural and political heritage have been two main actors of this conflict. The actors in question have made foreign policy a part of this conflict. The Middle East, as an important part of Ottoman, have been at the heart of this conflict in both domestic and foreign policy. Thus, with reference to post-structuralist theory’s main argument which problematize classical theories in International Relations, the paper argues that political blocs in Turkish politics instrumentalizes Turkish foreign policy in order to consolidate their own identity. Accordingly, the present paper examines the imagination of the Middle East from the perspectives of particular_x000D_
political blocs in Turkish politics, namely Kemalist and conservative. It argues that_x000D_
those imaginations construct a discourse which serves to (1) construct the political_x000D_
identity of actors; (2) marginalize other/rival discourses. By doing so, the paper_x000D_
begins with multi party period as Turkish political life witnessed alternative political_x000D_
discourses with multi-party system. Finally, it continues until 2010s because it aims_x000D_
to find out pattern in representations.
Turkish political history has on a large scale passed through the conflict between two political fronts. The Kemalist bloc which takes a position in favor of the new state and its Western orientation, and conservative bloc which tries to protect Ottoman’s cultural and political heritage have been two main actors of this conflict. The actors in question have made foreign policy a part of this conflict. The Middle East, as an important part of Ottoman, have been at the heart of this conflict in both domestic and foreign policy. Thus, with reference to post-structuralist theory’s main argument which problematize classical theories in International Relations, the paper argues that political blocs in Turkish politics instrumentalizes Turkish foreign policy in order to consolidate their own identity. Accordingly, the present paper examines the imagination of the Middle East from the perspectives of particular political blocs in Turkish politics, namely Kemalist and conservative. It argues that those imaginations construct a discourse which serves to (1) construct the political identity of actors; (2) marginalize other/rival discourses. By doing so, the paper begins with multi party period as Turkish political life witnessed alternative political discourses with multi-party system. Finally, it continues until 2010s because it aims to find out pattern in representations.
