Demythologyzing the national security concept: the case of Turkey

Abstract

Since the second half of the 1990s, a new national security discourse in Turkey sanctifies security over democratic and developmental objectives. By organizing itself around the concepts and issues raised by the former Deputy Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz's pathbreaking speech on August 4, 2001 on "national security syndrome," this essay problematizes the increased security concerns of the TSK against the democratic priorities of the EU which Turkey aspires to join. Secondly, the essay analyzes the problems involved in Turkey's process offormulating its national security policy.