Securitization, militarization and gender in Turkey

Abstract

The process of securitization reflects the dominant security understanding and the forces that play on this security understanding in a country. In Turkey, this process of securitization is experienced in close relation to militarization. With four military interventions since the republic was established, - two of which were full-scale coups d’état. - Turkey has gone through an intensified process of militarization that has affected the process of securitization. These processes are constructed, but claimed to be “natural” for the securitization to work smoothly. This construction is based on a gendered understanding and discourse especially with the way that the security agenda is constituted, which helps for consalidation of the dominant security understanding. With the effect of militarization on the process of securitization, the security agenda is formed with the state as the sole referent object, and this results in the individual security being taken for granted. Furthermore, the state can also be a source of threat for individual security within this relationship of securitization and militarization. The militarized understanding of security and the close relationship between the processes of securitization and militarization results in a hierarchical attitude towards events and developments where individual security in general, and the security of women in particular, are neglected. This thesis analyzes the relationship between the processes of securitization and militarization and shows their gendered construction in Turkey.