Securitization theory and politics of securitization in Turkey: 1923-2003

The dissertation aims at unveiling how discourse of threat in terms of ?security of the regime? is used for political purposes as a ?technique of government?. It comes into meaning that discourse of threat is a by-product of other discourses in use rather than mirroring ?real threats? in language and this work deals with this issue in a historically comparative context.This thesis finds that there exist distinguishing discourses in the Republican period such as ?the indivisible unity of the state and the nation? and ?preservation of Republican regime? which promote and demarcate the universe of ?internal enemy-external enemy?. In order to analyze such discourses, we have to study the related discursive formations. The main contention of the present thesis is that such discourses through securitization pave the way for an oppressive socio-political aura and limitation on `normal? political processes. The thesis also finds that permanency and coherence of these discourses (based on the threat manufacture and used by the state specifically in times of political crises) represent a structure which needs to be interpreted. This thesis examines this structure. Its main points and questions are:How has the production of threat discourse affected and given shape to Turkish political life since the establishment of the Republican regime? How should ideological framework be analyzed in relation to the closure of political parties? What is the role of securitization in this process? What are the political and discursive dynamics that institutionalize and sustain privileged standpoints for the military that has acted as a hegemonic subject in Turkey?s political life? What is the political and discursive possibility of the passive subject-positions taken up by the political actors in comparison to the condition of civil and military bureaucracy? What is the appropriate way for explaining why oppositional segments of the society have been silent and passive towards politics?In this dissertation, conceptual and theoretical framework of securitization is used for explaining why, how, by whom and under which conditions a problem is reproduced as a security problem which could normally be solved as part of an ordinary agenda of the political process.First chapter of the dissertation explains the theoretical framework of securitization while the second part deals with the politics of securitization in the early Republican period. The third part seeks to reveal the discursive conditions that paved way for the military interventions as a result of securitization discourses in relation to the closure of the Democrat Party while fourth part is related to how political realm is militarized and securitized by the military playing the role of a hegemonic subject. Final chapter studies the issue of securitization politics in 1990s and determinants of its framework, and then securitization politics is analyzed over the Welfare Party closure case.