Securing the Ground Through Securitized 'Foreign' Policy: The Cyprus Case

Abstract

Particularly since the beginning of the new millennium, the Cyprus issue that had hitherto been successfully securitized and bureaucratized has turned out to be the main ‘discursive battlefield’ of the polarization among ruling elites in Turkey. Framed within a historical perspective, the present article re-examines Turkey’s security discourse on Cyprus with particular reference to its implications for the (re)configuration of political balances and power relations between the conservative state elite - namely, the civilian and military bureaucracy - and the reformist political elite in Turkey. It concludes that the security language devised by the Turkish ‘foreign’ policy and security establishment has been operational in both inscribing the legitimate boundaries of the political sphere and crippling the manoeuvring ability of governments vis-à-vis the strong bureaucratic establishment in Turkey. The article also aims at encouraging the reader to critically reflect on power politics of ‘foreign’ policymaking in Turkey and its implications for domestic politics.