"Drop Turkey from NATO now": Construction of Anti-Türkiye Discourse in the U.S. Public Opinion

Hasan Turgut; Ali Çakır

Makale detayları

"Drop Turkey from NATO now": Construction of Anti-Türkiye Discourse in the U.S. Public Opinion

Yazarlar:

Hasan Turgut | Ali Çakır

Yayıncı:

Kastamonu University

Ana Başlıklar:

İletişim ve Medya Çalışmaları

Dergi:

Kastamonu İletişim Araştırmaları Dergisi Issue 10, pp.20-48

Belge Tipi:

Makale

Yayın Tarihi:

6/2023

Belge Dili:

İngilizce

Document ID (Org No.):

2001291972

pISSN:

2667-727X

Anahtar kelimeler:

Özet:

 After the outbreak of the Ukraine-Russia War, Sweden and Finland abandoned their neutrality policies and announced that they would apply for NATO membership. Türkiye declared that it would veto their membership applications, stating that these two countries supported terrorist organizations. This situation alarmed the European member countries of NATO and the United States, and it was stated that Türkiyes veto would cause a rift in the NATO alliance and jeopardize European security. This study analyzes reader comments in the three leading U.S. newspapers: The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. The study was limited to the readers comments on news about Türkiyes veto between May 19, 2022, when Türkiye announced its objection to Sweden and Finlands NATO membership applications, and June 30, 2022, when the crisis was resolved. The study applies an eclectic methodology and employs a corpus-assisted discourse analysis method. The themes, strategies, and linguistic practices through which Türkiye and Turkish identities are discursively constructed were analyzed. As a result of the analysis, it was concluded that Türkiyes announcement to veto Swedens and Finlands membership applications to NATO has fed the anti-Turkish sentiment that dominates U.S. public opinion, especially in the context of Türkiye-U.S. relations that reached a breaking point after 2016. Moreover, it is argued that anti-Turkish sentiment is constructed through traditional discourse themes such as the stereotype of the bad Turk and Islamophobia, as well as discourse themes that establish the identification of President Erdoğan and Türkiye.

 After the outbreak of the Ukraine-Russia War, Sweden and Finland abandoned their neutrality policies and announced that they would apply for NATO membership. Türkiye declared that it would veto their membership applications, stating that these two countries supported terrorist organizations. This situation alarmed the European member countries of NATO and the United States, and it was stated that Türkiyes veto would cause a rift in the NATO alliance and jeopardize European security. This study analyzes reader comments in the three leading U.S. newspapers: The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. The study was limited to the readers comments on news about Türkiyes veto between May 19, 2022, when Türkiye announced its objection to Sweden and Finlands NATO membership applications, and June 30, 2022, when the crisis was resolved. The study applies an eclectic methodology and employs a corpus-assisted discourse analysis method. The themes, strategies, and linguistic practices through which Türkiye and Turkish identities are discursively constructed were analyzed. As a result of the analysis, it was concluded that Türkiyes announcement to veto Swedens and Finlands membership applications to NATO has fed the anti-Turkish sentiment that dominates U.S. public opinion, especially in the context of Türkiye-U.S. relations that reached a breaking point after 2016. Moreover, it is argued that anti-Turkish sentiment is constructed through traditional discourse themes such as the stereotype of the bad Turk and Islamophobia, as well as discourse themes that establish the identification of President Erdoğan and Türkiye.

 After the outbreak of the Ukraine-Russia War, Sweden and Finland abandoned their neutrality policies and announced that they would apply for NATO membership. Türkiye declared that it would veto their membership applications, stating that these two countries supported terrorist organizations. This situation alarmed the European member countries of NATO and the United States, and it was stated that Türkiyes veto would cause a rift in the NATO alliance and jeopardize European security. This study analyzes reader comments in the three leading U.S. newspapers: The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. The study was limited to the readers comments on news about Türkiyes veto between May 19, 2022, when Türkiye announced its objection to Sweden and Finlands NATO membership applications, and June 30, 2022, when the crisis was resolved. The study applies an eclectic methodology and employs a corpus-assisted discourse analysis method. The themes, strategies, and linguistic practices through which Türkiye and Turkish identities are discursively constructed were analyzed. As a result of the analysis, it was concluded that Türkiyes announcement to veto Swedens and Finlands membership applications to NATO has fed the anti-Turkish sentiment that dominates U.S. public opinion, especially in the context of Türkiye-U.S. relations that reached a breaking point after 2016. Moreover, it is argued that anti-Turkish sentiment is constructed through traditional discourse themes such as the stereotype of the bad Turk and Islamophobia, as well as discourse themes that establish the identification of President Erdoğan and Türkiye.

 Ukrayna-Rusya Savaşının başlamasıyla beraber, İsveç ve Finlandiya, tarafsızlık politikalarını terk ederek, NATO üyelik başvurusunda bulunacaklarını açıklamışlardır. Türkiye ise, bu iki ülkenin terör örgütlerine destek verdiğini belirterek üyelik başvurularını veto edeceğini açıklamıştır. Bu durum, ABD başta olmak üzere NATO üyesi Avrupa ülkelerini tedirgin etmiş, Türkiyenin veto hakkının, NATO ittifakı içerisinde ayrışma yaratacağı ve Avrupa güvenliğini tehlikeye atacağı dile getirilmiştir. Bu çalışma söz konusu endişenin, ABD kamuoyunda nasıl karşılık bulduğu sorusundan hareket ederek, ABDnin önde gelen üç gazetesi olan, The New York Times, The Washington Post ve The Wall Street Journal gazetelerinde konu ile ilgili yapılan okuyucu yorumlarını incelenmiştir. Çalışma, Türkiyenin, İsveç ve Finlandiyanın NATOya üyelik başvurularına itirazını açıkladığı 19 Mayıs 2022 tarihinden krizin aşıldığı 30 Haziran 2022 tarihine kadar geçen sürede, üç basın kuruluşunun web sayfalarında, Türkiyeye yönelik haberlere yapılan okur yorumları ile sınırlandırılmıştır. Çalışmada eklektik bir metodoloji benimsenmiş, derlembilim destekli söylem analizi yöntemi kullanılmıştır. Bu çerçevede Türkiye ve Türk kimliklerinin söylemsel olarak hangi temalar, stratejiler ve dilsel pratiklerle inşa edildiği analiz edilmiştir. Analiz sonucu, Türkiyenin, İsveç ve Finlandiyanın NATO üyelik başvurusunu veto edeceği ilan etmesinin, özellikle 2016 sonrasında kopma noktasına gelen Türkiye-ABD ilişkileri bağlamında, ABD kamuoyunda egemen olan Türkiye karşıtlığını beslediği sonucuna ulaşılmıştır. Ayrıca, Türkiye karşıtlığının, kötü Türk stereotipi, İslamofobi gibi gelenekselleşmiş söylem temalarının yanı sıra Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan ve Türkiye özdeşliğini kuran söylem temaları aracılığıyla inşa edildiğini ortaya koymaktadır.

Makale detayları

"Drop Turkey from NATO now": Construction of Anti-Türkiye Discourse in the U.S. Public Opinion

Yazarlar:

Hasan Turgut | Ali Çakır

Yayıncı:

Kastamonu University

Ana Başlıklar:

İletişim ve Medya Çalışmaları

Dergi:

Kastamonu İletişim Araştırmaları Dergisi Issue 10, pp.20-48

Belge Tipi:

Makale

Yayın Tarihi:

6/2023

Belge Dili:

İngilizce

Document ID (Org No.):

2001291972

pISSN:

2667-727X

Türkiye

NATO

US Public

Corpus-assisted Discourse Analysis

Ukraine-Russia WarTürkiye

NATO

ABD Kamuoyu

Derlembilim Söylem Analizi

Ukrayna-Rusya Savaşı

Sayı

Makale detayları

Yazarlar: Hasan Turgut | Ali Çakır

Yayıncı: Kastamonu University

Ana Başlıklar: İletişim ve Medya Çalışmaları

Dergi: Kastamonu İletişim Araştırmaları Dergisi Issue 10, pp.20-48

Belge Tipi: Makale

Yayın Tarihi: 6/2023

Belge Dili: İngilizce

Document ID (Org No.): 2001291972

pISSN: 2667-727X

Sayı

Yazarlar:

Hasan Turgut | Ali Çakır

Yayıncı:

Kastamonu University

Ana Başlıklar:

İletişim ve Medya Çalışmaları

Dergi:

Kastamonu İletişim Araştırmaları Dergisi Issue 10, pp.20-48

Belge Tipi:

Makale

Yayın Tarihi:

6/2023

Belge Dili:

İngilizce

Document ID (Org No.):

2001291972

pISSN:

2667-727X