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Turkey's Otherness In The Identity Discourses Of European Parliament

Year 2019, Volume: 19 Issue: 3, 359 - 372, 30.07.2019
https://doi.org/10.21121/eab.464110

Abstract

 This study aims to analyze discursive constructions of the Turkey’s
otherness with its relation to European identity in the European Parliament
(EP). The social constructivist approach is employed in the study and European
identity is proposed as a contested, hybrid and relatively exclusivist concept,
which primarily shaped within the self/other nexus particularly in the
enlargement process. The focus of the paper is the identification of hegemonic
referential strategies and related metaphors emphasizing otherness of Turkey, without
denying the inclusive discourses in the EP. In that sense, the research data consists
of 1999-2012 EP plenary debates. The major findings are a) the tendency to
present acquired characteristics as the innate differences alongside with the inherent
differences; b) the majority of exclusive discourses possessed the right-wing
MEPs and c) the exclusivist debates peaked 2004-09 term, the time of the launch
of negotiations. 

References

  • Akçay, Belgin, and Bahri Yılmaz (2012). Turkey's Accession to the European Union: Political and Economic Challenges. UK:Lexington Books.Aksoy, Sevilay Z. (2012), "The prospect of Turkey’s EU membership as represented in the British newspapers The Times and The Guardian, 2002–2005". Journal of European Studies 39,4:469–506.Allam, Magdi Cristiano. "Enlargement report for Turkey." http://www.europarl.europa.eu (Accessed 12.09.2016).Arat-Koç, Sedef (2010). "Contesting or affirming ‘Europe’? European enlargement, aspirations for ‘Europeanness’ and new identities in the margins of Europe." Journal of Contemporary European Studies 18.2:181-191.Aydın-Düzgit, Senem (2013). "European security and the accession of Turkey: Identity and foreign policy in the European Commission". Cooperation and Conflict 48.4:522-541.Baban, Feyzi and Fuat Keyman (2008). "Turkey and Postnational Europe Challenges for the Cosmopolitan Political Community". European Journal of Social Theory 11:107-124.Belder, Bas. "Progress report on enlargement." http://www.europarl.europa.eu. (Accessed 04.10.2016).Bizzotto, Mara. "Tensions between Turkey and the Republic of Cyprus". http://www.europarl.europa.eu. (Accessed 04.10.2016).Blokker, Paul (2008). "Europe ‘United in Diversity’ From a Central European Identity to Post-Nationality?". European Journal of Social Theory 11.2:257-274.Buckingham, Louisa (2013). "Mixed messages of solidarity in the Mediterranean: Turkey, the EU and the Spanish press". Discourse & Society 24.2:186-207.Brack, Natalie (2015). “The roles of Eurosceptic Members of the European Parliament and their implications for the EU”, International Political Science Review, 36.3:337-350. Camre, Mogens. "Progress towards accession by Turkey." http://www.europarl.europa.eu. (Accessed 24.09.2016).Canan-Sokullu, Ebru Ş. (2011). "Turcoscepticism and Threat Perception: European Public and Elite Opinion on Turkey's Protracted EU Membership". South European Society and Politics 16.3:483-497.Cuisan, Catherine (2012). A Political Theory of Identity in European Integration: Memories and Policies. Oxon:Routledge.Delanty, Gerard (2002). "Models of European identity: reconciling universalism and particularism." Perspectives on European Politics and Society 3.3:345-359.Delanty, Gerard (1995). Inventing Europe: Idea, Identity, Reality. London:Palgrave Macmillan. Delanty, Gerard and Chris Rumford (2005). Rethinking Europe: Social theory and the implications of Europeanization. Oxon:Routledge.Diez, Thomas (2005). "Constructing the Self and Changing Others: Reconsidering 'Normative Power of Europe'". Millenium-Journal of International Studies 33:613-636.Diez, Thomas (2004). "Europe’s Others and the Return of Geopolitics". Cambridge Review of International Affairs 17.2:319-335. Dryzek, John S. (1988). "The mismeasure of political man." The Journal of Politics 50.3:705-725.Eder, Klaus (2009)."A theory of collective identity making sense of the debate on a ‘European identity’." European Journal of Social Theory 12.4:427-447.Eder, Klaus (2006). "Europe's borders: The narrative construction of the boundaries of Europe." European Journal of Social Theory 9.2:255-271.Europarl. (2003). “The European Parliament in the Enlargement Process - An Overview”. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/enlargement_new/positionep/pdf/ep_role_en.pdf. (Accessed 03.01 2016).European Communities. (2009). “Building Parliament: 50 Years of European Parliament History”.http://www.ab.gov.tr/files/ardb/evt/1_avrupa_birligi/1_1_tarihce/50_years_of_euroPean_parliament_history.pdf. (Accessed 07.01.2016).Grabbe, Heather and Nadja Groot (2014). "Populism in the European Parliament: What Implications for the Open Society?", The International Spectator, 49.4:33-46.Hall, Stuart (1992). “The West and Rest:Discourse and Power. Formations of Modernity”. The indigenous experience: Global perspectives. 165-173.Jałowiecki, Stanisław. "Preparation of the European Council". http://www.europarl.europa.eu (Accessed 10.10.2016).Jupille, Joseph James et al. (2003), "Integrating institutions rationalism, constructivism, and the study of the European Union." Comparative Political Studies 36.1-2:7-40.Kahraman, Sevilay (2012). "The Future of European Integration Process and Turkey". In Turkey's Accession to the European Union: Political and Economic Challenges, eds. Belgin Akçay and Bahri Yılmaz. 317-334. UK:Lexington.Karatzaferis, Georgios. "Turkey's progress towards accession”. http://www.europarl.europa.eu. (Accessed 09.09.2016).Kösebalaban, Hasan (2007). "The permanent “other”? Turkey and the question of European identity" Mediterranean Quarterly 18.4:87-111.Lang, Carl. "Explanations of vote". http://www.europarl.europa.eu. (Accessed 09.09.2016).Le Pen, Jean-Marie. "Voting time". http://www.europarl.europa.eu. (Accessed 09.09.2016).Le Pen, Marine. "Explanations of vote." http://www.europarl.europa.eu. (Accessed 24.09.2016).Le Rachinel, Fernand. "Explanations of vote." http://www.europarl.europa.eu (Accessed 04.10.2016).Mathieu, Véronique. "Progress towards accession by Turkey." http://www.europarl.europa.eu (Accessed 17.09.2016).Matonytė, Irmina and Vaidas Morkevičius (2009). "Threat perception and European identity building: the case of elites in Belgium, Germany, Lithuania and Poland". Europe-Asia Studies 61.6:967-985.Melakopides, Costas (2000). "On the Mediterranean “Fuzzy Edge” of the EU: The Candidacies of Malta, Cyprus and Turkey". Journal of European Integration 22.3:299-334.Mikkeli, Heikki (1998). The Border of Defence: Europe and Russia. In Campling J. (eds) Europe as an Idea and an Identity. London:Palgrave Macmillan.Müftüler-Baç, Meltem. (2005). "Turkey's Political Reforms and the Impact of the European Union". South European Society & Politics 10.1:6-30.Negrine, Ralph (2008). "Imagining Turkey: British press coverage of Turkey’s bid for accession to the European Union in 2004". Journalism 9.5:624–645.Neumann, Iver B. (1999). Uses of the Other: “The East” in European Identity Formation. Minnesota:Minnesota Press.Phillips, Nelson and Cynthia Hardy (2002). Discourse analysis: Investigating processes of social construction. Vol. 50. Sage.Pistelli, Lapo. "Turkey's progress towards accession." http://www.europarl.europa.eu. (Accessed 04.10.2016).Rubington, Earl and Martin S. Weinberg (2003). The Study of Social Problems: Seven Perspectives. Social Constructionism. Newyork:Oxford University Press. Rumelili, Bahar (2004). "Constructing identity and relating to difference: understanding the EU's mode of differentiation". Review of International Studies 30.1:27-47.Rumelili, Bahar (2011). "Turkey: Identity, Foreign Policy, and Socialization in a Post‐Enlargement Europe". Journal of European Integration 33.2:235-249.Rumelili, Bahar (2008). “Negotiating Europe: EU-Turkey relations from an identity perspective”. Insight Turkey 10.1:97-110.Rumford, Chris (2000). "From Luxembourg to Helsinki: Turkey, the Politics of EU Enlargement and Prospects for Accession". Contemporary Politics 6.4:331-343.Scheuer, Angelika and Hermann Schmitt (2009). "Dynamics in European Political Identity". Journal of European Integration. 31.5:551-568.Schlenker, Andrea (2013). “Cosmopolitan Europeans or Partisans of Fortress Europe? Supranational Identity Patterns in the EU”. Global Society 27.1:25-51.Spohn, Willfried (2009). "Europeanization, Religion and Collective Identities in an Enlarging Europe A Multiple Modernities Perspective". European Journal of Social Theory 12.3:358-374.Stråth, Bo (2002). "A European Identity to the Historical Limits of a Concept". European Journal of Social Theory 5.4:387-401.Tekin, Beyza Ç. (2010). Representations and othering in discourse: the construction of Turkey in the EU context. Amsterdam:John Benjamins.van Dalen, Peter. "Enlargement strategy 2009." http://www.europarl.europa.eu. (Accessed 09.09.2016).van Teeffelen, Toine (1994). “Racism and metaphor: The Palestinian-Israeli conflict in popular literature”. Discourse & Society, 5.3:381-405.Weiler, Joseph H. (2007), "A Christian Europe? Europe and Christianity: rules of commitment". European View 6.1:143-150.Wetherell, Margaret et al. (2001). Discourse as data: A guide for analysis. Sage.Wodak, Ruth (2001). The discourse–historical approach. Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis. 63-94. London:Sage.Yanık, Lerna K. (2009). "The Metamorphosis of Metaphors of Vision: ‘Bridging’ Turkey’s Location, Role and Identity after the end of the Cold War". Geopolitics 14.3:531-545.Yılmaz, Hakan (2007). "Turkish identity on the road to the EU: basic elements of French and German oppositional discourses". Journal of Southern Europe and the Balkans Online 9.3:293-305.Zaleski, Zbigniew. "Opening of negotiations with Turkey". http://www.europarl.europa.eu. (Accessed 6.10.2016).

Avrupa Parlamentosu’nun Kimlik Söylemlerinde Türkiye’nin Ötekileştirilmesi

Year 2019, Volume: 19 Issue: 3, 359 - 372, 30.07.2019
https://doi.org/10.21121/eab.464110

Abstract

Bu çalışma Avrupa Parlamentosu’nda (AP) Avrupa kimliği ile bağlantılı olarak Türkiye’nin ötekileştirilmesinin söylemsel yapılanmalarını analiz etmeyi amaçlamaktadır. Çalışmada inşacı yaklaşım benimsenerek Avrupa kimliği, özellikle genişleme sürecinde öncelikli olarak ben/öteki bağlantısında şekillenen, tartışmaya açık, hibrit yapıda ve nispeten dışlayıcı bir kavram olarak ele alınmaktadır. Çalışmanın odak noktası, AP’deki kapsayıcı söylemleri inkâr etmeden, Türkiye’nin ötekiliğine vurgu yapan hegemonik referans stratejileri ve ilgili metaforları tespit etmektir. Çalışmanın araştırma verisi 1999-2012 yılları arasındaki AP genel tartışmalarından oluşmaktadır. Araştırmanın en önemli bulguları arasında a) kazanılan özelliklerin de içkin farklılıklarmış gibi sunma eğilimi; b) dışlayıcı söylemlerin çoğunluğunun sağ-kanat AP üyelerine ait olması ve c) üyelik müzakerelerinin başlangıcına denk gelen 2004-09 döneminde dışlayıcı söylemlerin en üst seviyeye ulaşmasıdır

References

  • Akçay, Belgin, and Bahri Yılmaz (2012). Turkey's Accession to the European Union: Political and Economic Challenges. UK:Lexington Books.Aksoy, Sevilay Z. (2012), "The prospect of Turkey’s EU membership as represented in the British newspapers The Times and The Guardian, 2002–2005". Journal of European Studies 39,4:469–506.Allam, Magdi Cristiano. "Enlargement report for Turkey." http://www.europarl.europa.eu (Accessed 12.09.2016).Arat-Koç, Sedef (2010). "Contesting or affirming ‘Europe’? European enlargement, aspirations for ‘Europeanness’ and new identities in the margins of Europe." Journal of Contemporary European Studies 18.2:181-191.Aydın-Düzgit, Senem (2013). "European security and the accession of Turkey: Identity and foreign policy in the European Commission". Cooperation and Conflict 48.4:522-541.Baban, Feyzi and Fuat Keyman (2008). "Turkey and Postnational Europe Challenges for the Cosmopolitan Political Community". European Journal of Social Theory 11:107-124.Belder, Bas. "Progress report on enlargement." http://www.europarl.europa.eu. (Accessed 04.10.2016).Bizzotto, Mara. "Tensions between Turkey and the Republic of Cyprus". http://www.europarl.europa.eu. (Accessed 04.10.2016).Blokker, Paul (2008). "Europe ‘United in Diversity’ From a Central European Identity to Post-Nationality?". European Journal of Social Theory 11.2:257-274.Buckingham, Louisa (2013). "Mixed messages of solidarity in the Mediterranean: Turkey, the EU and the Spanish press". Discourse & Society 24.2:186-207.Brack, Natalie (2015). “The roles of Eurosceptic Members of the European Parliament and their implications for the EU”, International Political Science Review, 36.3:337-350. Camre, Mogens. "Progress towards accession by Turkey." http://www.europarl.europa.eu. (Accessed 24.09.2016).Canan-Sokullu, Ebru Ş. (2011). "Turcoscepticism and Threat Perception: European Public and Elite Opinion on Turkey's Protracted EU Membership". South European Society and Politics 16.3:483-497.Cuisan, Catherine (2012). A Political Theory of Identity in European Integration: Memories and Policies. Oxon:Routledge.Delanty, Gerard (2002). "Models of European identity: reconciling universalism and particularism." Perspectives on European Politics and Society 3.3:345-359.Delanty, Gerard (1995). Inventing Europe: Idea, Identity, Reality. London:Palgrave Macmillan. Delanty, Gerard and Chris Rumford (2005). Rethinking Europe: Social theory and the implications of Europeanization. Oxon:Routledge.Diez, Thomas (2005). "Constructing the Self and Changing Others: Reconsidering 'Normative Power of Europe'". Millenium-Journal of International Studies 33:613-636.Diez, Thomas (2004). "Europe’s Others and the Return of Geopolitics". Cambridge Review of International Affairs 17.2:319-335. Dryzek, John S. (1988). "The mismeasure of political man." The Journal of Politics 50.3:705-725.Eder, Klaus (2009)."A theory of collective identity making sense of the debate on a ‘European identity’." European Journal of Social Theory 12.4:427-447.Eder, Klaus (2006). "Europe's borders: The narrative construction of the boundaries of Europe." European Journal of Social Theory 9.2:255-271.Europarl. (2003). “The European Parliament in the Enlargement Process - An Overview”. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/enlargement_new/positionep/pdf/ep_role_en.pdf. (Accessed 03.01 2016).European Communities. (2009). “Building Parliament: 50 Years of European Parliament History”.http://www.ab.gov.tr/files/ardb/evt/1_avrupa_birligi/1_1_tarihce/50_years_of_euroPean_parliament_history.pdf. (Accessed 07.01.2016).Grabbe, Heather and Nadja Groot (2014). "Populism in the European Parliament: What Implications for the Open Society?", The International Spectator, 49.4:33-46.Hall, Stuart (1992). “The West and Rest:Discourse and Power. Formations of Modernity”. The indigenous experience: Global perspectives. 165-173.Jałowiecki, Stanisław. "Preparation of the European Council". http://www.europarl.europa.eu (Accessed 10.10.2016).Jupille, Joseph James et al. (2003), "Integrating institutions rationalism, constructivism, and the study of the European Union." Comparative Political Studies 36.1-2:7-40.Kahraman, Sevilay (2012). "The Future of European Integration Process and Turkey". In Turkey's Accession to the European Union: Political and Economic Challenges, eds. Belgin Akçay and Bahri Yılmaz. 317-334. UK:Lexington.Karatzaferis, Georgios. "Turkey's progress towards accession”. http://www.europarl.europa.eu. (Accessed 09.09.2016).Kösebalaban, Hasan (2007). "The permanent “other”? Turkey and the question of European identity" Mediterranean Quarterly 18.4:87-111.Lang, Carl. "Explanations of vote". http://www.europarl.europa.eu. (Accessed 09.09.2016).Le Pen, Jean-Marie. "Voting time". http://www.europarl.europa.eu. (Accessed 09.09.2016).Le Pen, Marine. "Explanations of vote." http://www.europarl.europa.eu. (Accessed 24.09.2016).Le Rachinel, Fernand. "Explanations of vote." http://www.europarl.europa.eu (Accessed 04.10.2016).Mathieu, Véronique. "Progress towards accession by Turkey." http://www.europarl.europa.eu (Accessed 17.09.2016).Matonytė, Irmina and Vaidas Morkevičius (2009). "Threat perception and European identity building: the case of elites in Belgium, Germany, Lithuania and Poland". Europe-Asia Studies 61.6:967-985.Melakopides, Costas (2000). "On the Mediterranean “Fuzzy Edge” of the EU: The Candidacies of Malta, Cyprus and Turkey". Journal of European Integration 22.3:299-334.Mikkeli, Heikki (1998). The Border of Defence: Europe and Russia. In Campling J. (eds) Europe as an Idea and an Identity. London:Palgrave Macmillan.Müftüler-Baç, Meltem. (2005). "Turkey's Political Reforms and the Impact of the European Union". South European Society & Politics 10.1:6-30.Negrine, Ralph (2008). "Imagining Turkey: British press coverage of Turkey’s bid for accession to the European Union in 2004". Journalism 9.5:624–645.Neumann, Iver B. (1999). Uses of the Other: “The East” in European Identity Formation. Minnesota:Minnesota Press.Phillips, Nelson and Cynthia Hardy (2002). Discourse analysis: Investigating processes of social construction. Vol. 50. Sage.Pistelli, Lapo. "Turkey's progress towards accession." http://www.europarl.europa.eu. (Accessed 04.10.2016).Rubington, Earl and Martin S. Weinberg (2003). The Study of Social Problems: Seven Perspectives. Social Constructionism. Newyork:Oxford University Press. Rumelili, Bahar (2004). "Constructing identity and relating to difference: understanding the EU's mode of differentiation". Review of International Studies 30.1:27-47.Rumelili, Bahar (2011). "Turkey: Identity, Foreign Policy, and Socialization in a Post‐Enlargement Europe". Journal of European Integration 33.2:235-249.Rumelili, Bahar (2008). “Negotiating Europe: EU-Turkey relations from an identity perspective”. Insight Turkey 10.1:97-110.Rumford, Chris (2000). "From Luxembourg to Helsinki: Turkey, the Politics of EU Enlargement and Prospects for Accession". Contemporary Politics 6.4:331-343.Scheuer, Angelika and Hermann Schmitt (2009). "Dynamics in European Political Identity". Journal of European Integration. 31.5:551-568.Schlenker, Andrea (2013). “Cosmopolitan Europeans or Partisans of Fortress Europe? Supranational Identity Patterns in the EU”. Global Society 27.1:25-51.Spohn, Willfried (2009). "Europeanization, Religion and Collective Identities in an Enlarging Europe A Multiple Modernities Perspective". European Journal of Social Theory 12.3:358-374.Stråth, Bo (2002). "A European Identity to the Historical Limits of a Concept". European Journal of Social Theory 5.4:387-401.Tekin, Beyza Ç. (2010). Representations and othering in discourse: the construction of Turkey in the EU context. Amsterdam:John Benjamins.van Dalen, Peter. "Enlargement strategy 2009." http://www.europarl.europa.eu. (Accessed 09.09.2016).van Teeffelen, Toine (1994). “Racism and metaphor: The Palestinian-Israeli conflict in popular literature”. Discourse & Society, 5.3:381-405.Weiler, Joseph H. (2007), "A Christian Europe? Europe and Christianity: rules of commitment". European View 6.1:143-150.Wetherell, Margaret et al. (2001). Discourse as data: A guide for analysis. Sage.Wodak, Ruth (2001). The discourse–historical approach. Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis. 63-94. London:Sage.Yanık, Lerna K. (2009). "The Metamorphosis of Metaphors of Vision: ‘Bridging’ Turkey’s Location, Role and Identity after the end of the Cold War". Geopolitics 14.3:531-545.Yılmaz, Hakan (2007). "Turkish identity on the road to the EU: basic elements of French and German oppositional discourses". Journal of Southern Europe and the Balkans Online 9.3:293-305.Zaleski, Zbigniew. "Opening of negotiations with Turkey". http://www.europarl.europa.eu. (Accessed 6.10.2016).
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Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Political Science
Journal Section Articles
Authors

Hülya Ağcasulu 0000-0003-3939-904X

Ringo Ossewaarde This is me 0000-0003-3939-904X

Publication Date July 30, 2019
Acceptance Date May 31, 2019
Published in Issue Year 2019 Volume: 19 Issue: 3

Cite

APA Ağcasulu, H., & Ossewaarde, R. (2019). Turkey’s Otherness In The Identity Discourses Of European Parliament. Ege Academic Review, 19(3), 359-372. https://doi.org/10.21121/eab.464110
AMA Ağcasulu H, Ossewaarde R. Turkey’s Otherness In The Identity Discourses Of European Parliament. ear. July 2019;19(3):359-372. doi:10.21121/eab.464110
Chicago Ağcasulu, Hülya, and Ringo Ossewaarde. “Turkey’s Otherness In The Identity Discourses Of European Parliament”. Ege Academic Review 19, no. 3 (July 2019): 359-72. https://doi.org/10.21121/eab.464110.
EndNote Ağcasulu H, Ossewaarde R (July 1, 2019) Turkey’s Otherness In The Identity Discourses Of European Parliament. Ege Academic Review 19 3 359–372.
IEEE H. Ağcasulu and R. Ossewaarde, “Turkey’s Otherness In The Identity Discourses Of European Parliament”, ear, vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 359–372, 2019, doi: 10.21121/eab.464110.
ISNAD Ağcasulu, Hülya - Ossewaarde, Ringo. “Turkey’s Otherness In The Identity Discourses Of European Parliament”. Ege Academic Review 19/3 (July 2019), 359-372. https://doi.org/10.21121/eab.464110.
JAMA Ağcasulu H, Ossewaarde R. Turkey’s Otherness In The Identity Discourses Of European Parliament. ear. 2019;19:359–372.
MLA Ağcasulu, Hülya and Ringo Ossewaarde. “Turkey’s Otherness In The Identity Discourses Of European Parliament”. Ege Academic Review, vol. 19, no. 3, 2019, pp. 359-72, doi:10.21121/eab.464110.
Vancouver Ağcasulu H, Ossewaarde R. Turkey’s Otherness In The Identity Discourses Of European Parliament. ear. 2019;19(3):359-72.