Constructing Turkish “exceptionalism”: Discourses of liminality and hybridity in post-Cold War Turkish foreign policy
Author
Yanık, L. K.
Date
2011-02Source Title
Political Geography
Print ISSN
0962-6298
Publisher
Elsevier
Volume
30
Issue
2
Pages
80 - 89
Language
English
Type
ArticleItem Usage Stats
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Show full item recordAbstract
This article examines the discursive practices that enable the construction of Turkish “exceptionalism.” It
argues that in an attempt to play the mediator/peacemaker role as an emerging power, the Turkish elite
construct an “exceptionalist” identity that portrays Turkey in a liminal state. This liminality and thus the
“exceptionalist” identity it creates, is rooted in the hybridization of Turkey’s geographical and historical
characteristics. The Turkish foreign policy elite make every effort to underscore Turkey’s geography as
a meeting place of different continents. Historically, there has also been an ongoing campaign to depict
Turkey’s past as “multicultural” and multi-civilizational. These constructions of identity however, run
counter to the Kemalist nation-building project, which is based on “purity” in contrast to “hybridity”
both in terms of historiography and practice.
Keywords
TurkeyExceptionalism
Liminality
Hybridization
Foreign Policy
Discourse
Metaphors
Eurasia
Neo-ottomanism