Devlet Dışı Silahlı Aktörlerin Söylemsel İnşası: Amerikan Basınında YPG Örneği

Yıl 2025, Cilt: 21 Sayı: 50, 1 - 23, 23.04.2025

Mustafa Onur Tetik

https://doi.org/10.17752/guvenlikstrtj.1557851

Öz

Devletler uluslararası sistem içerisinde muhtelif hedeflerine ulaşmak için silahlı devlet dışı aktörleri vekil olarak kullanmaktadırlar. Ancak bu örgütlerle girilen angajman devletlerle girilen ilişkiler gibi uluslararası normların sağladığı meşruiyet zeminine sahip olmayabilmektedir. Bu noktada devletlerin bu dış politika eylemlerini kendi toplumlarının muhayyilesinde ve uluslararası kamuoyu nezdinde kabul edilebilir kılmak için bu örgütleri de söylemleri içerisinden meşru özne olarak inşa etmeleri gerekebilir. Bu makale, ABD’nin Suriye’de desteklediği ve bir vekil güç olarak kullandığı PYD/YPG’nin Amerika basınındaki hegemonik söylemler içerisinde nasıl meşru biz özne olarak inşa edildiğini New York Times (NYT) gazetesinin 2014-2023 yılları arasındaki konu ile ilintili çevrimiçi arşivini inceleyerek ortaya koymaktadır. Bu gerçekleştirilirken Ruth Wodak’ın söylem-tarihsel yaklaşımından hareketle metinler içerisindeki özneleştirme faaliyetinde istifade edilen söylemsel stratejiler ve dilsel araçlar tespit edilmiş ve bu çerçeve üzerinden metinler söylem analizine tabi tutulmuştur. Elde edilen söylemsel verilere göre New York Times (NYT), PYD/YPG’ye çoğunlukla “Kürtler” olarak atıf yaparak temsili bir meşruiyet sağlamıştır. Bunun yanı sıra, ülkesel işaretleme, meşru bir silahlı güç olarak tanımlama, idari kapasite, maduniyet, ahlakilik ve ilkesellik atfetme gibi stratejiler kullanarak müttefiki Türkiye’nin terör örgütü olarak tanımladığı bu yapı ile ABD’nin ilişki kurmasını uluslararası normların hilafına da olsa meşru bir zemine taşımıştır. Bu çalışma genellikle ulus-devletler ve onların kimlikleri için başvurulan tekniklerin devlet dışı aktörlere de nasıl uygulanabileceğinin bir örneğini vermektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Devlet Dışı Silahlı Aktör, Terörizm, PYD/YPG, Söylemsel İnşa, Amerikan Basını

The Discursive Construction of Non-State Armed Actors: The Case of YPG in the American Press

Öz

States employ non-state armed actors as proxies to achieve various goals within the international system. However, engagements with such organizations may lack the legitimacy provided by international norms that typically govern relations between states. At this point, states may need to construct these organizations as legitimate actors within their discourses to make these foreign policies acceptable for the imagination of their own societies and international public opinion. This article examines how the PYD/YPG, supported by the US as a proxy force in Syria, has been constructed as a legitimate subject within the hegemonic discourse of the American press by analyzing the New York Times online archive related to the topic between 2014 and 2023. During this process, the discursive strategies and linguistic tools used to carry out this subject formation have been identified within the texts via Ruth Wodak’s discourse-historical approach, and the texts have been subjected to discourse analysis based on this framework. According to the discursive data obtained, the NYT mainly refers to the PYD/YPG as “the Kurds,” thereby providing representational legitimacy. Besides, by employing strategies such as territorial marking, defining it as a legitimate armed force, attributing administrative capacity, subalternity, morality, and principledness, the NYT legitimized the US’s relationship with this organization, which is designated as a terrorist organization by its ally Türkiye, against the international norms. This study provides an example of how techniques usually applied to nation-states and their identities can also be applied to non-state actors.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Non-state Armed Actor, Terrorism, PYD/YPG, Discursive Construction, American Press

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