Ak Party's understanding of nationalism and its reflections on its policies

Although nationalism has shaped the change of the world since its existence, it has embodied the feature of being a channel for political maneuvers by acting together with many ideologies. According to some, this ideology, which means nothing more than a doctrine, sometimes acts as an elixir for unity and sometimes as a poison that provides an environment for divisions, and has been used under various names by "political powers or other interest groups" over the past centuries. The AK Party has shaped political activities in Turkey and carried out many transformations for almost twenty years. The laws enacted and the policies carried out were, of course, shaped by the ideology of the AK Party, which is the basis of its political view. Although the AK Party has presented its ideology as "conservative democrat" to the public, this identity is being discussed by various circles. Apart from the fact that conservatism also includes Islamism and nationalism, especially in the post-2015 period, the emphasis on nationalism with the discourse of the country's concern for survival and the establishment of the presidential system with the realization of the alliance with the MHP (Nationalist Movement Party), and finally, the desire to make local and nationality functional in every field has made it important to question the nationalist view of the AK Party since 2002. In this regard, it has become important to reveal the reflections of nationalism on domestic and foreign policies together with its justifications. In addition, another important point for this study is that although nationalism is exhibited with a Neo-Ottomanist perspective, there are occasional deviations from this stance in the implementation of both domestic and foreign policies. In such a situation, the introduction of pragmatism and populism was also important for the study. In addition, while the steps taken within the framework of Neo-Ottomanism were operated on the basis of civil nationalism in both domestic and foreign conditions/policies, it also brought with it an identity definition in which Islam was assigned as an important collector. In this process, the myth of being elected is important in terms of increasing the legitimacy of the policies in the eyes of the public. The study covers the evaluation of the domestic and foreign policies of the AK Party, which has attracted attention in the eyes of the public, by revealing the changing aspects of the situation, which is reflected in the nationalism perspective. In order to carry out the study, literature review and reseources were investigated and data were collected from primary and secondary sources in this way. In this regard, although political texts and politicians' discourses are used a lot, it is aimed to make an inference of nationalism from the reflection of the policies in the deed/execution, and the current policies are examined and the writing is carried out by using a hermeneutic political analysis method to reveal the invisible aspects in the execution of these policies.