Foreign policy as a tool in constructing national identity: A case study of Gallipoli campaign

Orthodox foreign policy studies take states as given in international politics. As the principal actor in international politics, the state has a distinct character different from the outside. Orthodox Turkish foreign policy studies postulate that Turkey has been the member of the Westphalian nation state order and it has had a set of policies and actions oriented towards the external world. This thesis is a post-structural foreign policy study that problematizes the orthodox literature. It will be argued that the state is not given, the Turkish national identity is neither homogenous nor stable, and Turkish foreign policy is an identity productive discursive practice. The study scrutinizes the annual presidential statements on Gallipoli Campaign in order to demonstrate the way in which Turkish foreign policy discourses produce and reproduce the national identity. The analysis focuses on two different periods. The first period under the scope is between the years of 2001 and 2007 and the second period is between the years of 2015 and 2017. The study argues that the presidential statements on the battle aim to create the Turkish self in each period. Gallipoli Campaign is the source of the other in the present. Thus, the discursive authority of the presidential statements constitutes the Turkish self. Keywords: Foreign policy, orthodox foreign policy studies, post-structuralism,Gallipoli Campaign