A Bridge with Multiple Faces: Competing Identities in Turkish Parliamentary Debates (1988-2016)

Abstract

This article examines how Turkish parliamentarians continuously (re)shape Turkey’s identity and geopolitical role by using the metaphor of a bridge in parliamentary debates from 1988 to 2016. First, the article argues that parliamentarians use this metaphor in identity-formation processes to mediate between competing identities, thereby constituting Turkey’s liminal identity. Second, it illustrates how the bridge metaphor remained a dominant discourse even though parliamentarians constantly challenged and refilled the meaning of it. This constantly (re)shapes Turkey’s geopolitical role to function as a bridge between the West and East.