cbd Coğrafi Bilimler Dergisi 1303-5851 1308-9765 Ankara Üniversitesi 10.33688/aucbd.1825059 Political Geography Siyasi Coğrafya Söylem, Mekân, Meşruiyet: 2003 Irak Savaşı’nın Eleştirel Jeopolitik Analizi Discourse, Space, and the Politics of Legitimacy: A Critical Geopolitical Analysis of the 2003 Iraq War https://orcid.org/0009-0000-5195-5075 Bayrakcı Gün Elif İSTANBUL ÜNİVERSİTESİ Advanced Online Publication 354 382 11 16 2025 04 10 2026 Copyright © 2003, Coğrafi Bilimler Dergisi 2003 Coğrafi Bilimler Dergisi

Bu makale, 2003 Irak Savaşı’nın meşruiyetini kuran söylemleri eleştirel jeopolitik ve coğrafya çerçevesinde inceler. George W. Bush, Tony Blair ve dönemin kurumsal belgeleri tematik söylem analiziyle (Braun & Clarke) değerlendirilmiştir. 2002–2005 arasındaki konuşmalar, istihbarat raporları (NIE, Senato Raporu), İngiltere soruşturmaları (Butler, Chilcot) ve görselleştirmeler (uydu görüntüleri, hedef haritaları) kodlanmıştır. Bulgular, “aciliyet–kesinlik–teknikleşme” üçlemesinin önleyici savaşı teknik bir zorunluluk gibi sunduğunu; “ölçek kaydırma”nın alternatifsizlik hissi ürettiğini; “kurumsal teyit zinciri”nin meşruiyeti pekiştirdiğini, ancak savaş sonrası sessizliklerin çözülmesiyle bu meşruiyetin sarsıldığını göstermektedir. Kitle imha silahları ve Irak–El Kaide bağlantısı söylemleri kalıcılaşmazken, demokrasi söylemi güvenlik mimarileri içinde parçalı egemenlik üretmiştir. Çalışma, jeopolitik söylemin yalnızca dünyayı temsil etmediğini, aynı zamanda karar ve mekân üretim süreçlerini şekillendirdiğini vurgular

This article examines the discourses that constructed the legitimacy of the 2003 Iraq War within the frameworks of critical geopolitics and critical geography. Speeches by George W. Bush, Tony Blair, and institutional documents were analyzed using thematic discourse analysis (Braun & Clarke). Materials from 2002–2005 including speeches, intelligence reports (NIE, Senate Report), UK inquiries (Butler, Chilcot), and visual representations (satellite images, target maps) were coded. Findings show that the “urgency, certainty,technification” triad framed the preventive war as a technical necessity; “scale shifting” produced a sense of inevitability; and the “chain of institutional confirmation” reinforced legitimacy, which later unraveled through postwar silences and retrospective distancing. The narratives of WMDs and Iraq–Al Qaeda links did not sustain empirically, while democracy discourse generated fragmented sovereignty within security architectures such as the Green Zone and checkpoints. The study argues that geopolitical discourse not only represents the world but also constructs decision spaces and spatial outcomes.

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