Health security and securitization of COVID-19 in the case of Turkey

Since Spanish Flu, the Covid-19 pandemic has been one of the greatest threats to the existence of humans on the planet. It threatens human health, economic and political order, and ultimately the state's existence. For this reason, Covid-19 is a political problem and needs a political solution. The political resolution of Covid-19 in Turkey analyzed within the framework of the securitization theory of Copenhagen School. The basic assumptions of the study analyzed in three stages: practices, discourses, and audience consent within the framework of the criticisms brought to the theory. Turkey's response to Covid-19 has been in the form of unconventional security-based framing to a national crisis. The government has securitized a health problem that the country has faced for the first time with regulations and policy implementations. The discourses are framed as metaphors: nationalists, fear, war, and military action. The Minister of Health placed at the center of events as the prominent leader. The President's verbal messages focused on a sense of community and joint action. Since it is not sufficient to analyze a threat speech acts of the securitizing actor alone, it has been discussed with an intersubjective approach. In this context, it has introduced new way to the securitization of Covid-19, in which the public plays a key role. This thesis analyzed the perspectives of both the securitizing actor and the audience. The thesis has contributed to the theoretical discussion on the audience by emphasizing the special role given to the public in this particular securitization context. A nuanced analysis of audience acceptance showed that despite a general resonance with threat perception, it highlighted the importance of safeguards and the audience's participatory role in the process. This study questioned whether Covid-19 could be considered as "successfully securitized" in Turkey. The study showed that the role of the audience is essential for successful securitization. This study examines an intersubjective process from a historical perspective. It questioned the extent to which the public accepted the securitization of Covid-19 in Turkey. As far as we know, it is one of the first studies to examine the public perception of government response in Turkey within the scope of securitization theory. The findings here may help guide future decisions, especially given the impact of public perception on adopting government guidelines and policies.