“The Influence of News Frames on Foreign Policy: A Neoclassical Realist Analysis of German Foreign Policy Towards Turkey” Dissertation zur Erlangung des Grades Dr. phil. bei dem Fachbereich Politik- und Sozialwissenschaften der Freien Universität Berlin vorgelegt von Başar Şirin Berlin 2020 Erstgutachter: Prof. Dr. Eberhard Sandschneider Zweitgutachter: Priv.-Doz. Dr. Gülistan Gürbey Datum der Disputation: 19.12.2019 Hiermit bestätige ich, dass ich die vorliegende Arbeit selbstständig und unter Zuhilfenahme der angegebenen Literatur erstellt habe. Berlin, den 15.09.2020 Başar Şirin 2 Acknowledgment I would like to thank the following people and institutions who have helped me undertake this research, My supervisors Prof. Eberhard Sandschneider and Prof. Gülistan Gürbey, for their support, guidance, and patience during the running of this project, My Dissertation Committee; Prof. Cilja Harders, Prof. Miriam Hartlapp, and Dr. Mathis Lohaus for their helpful feedback, Administration staff of the Political Science Department of the Freie Universität Berlin, especially Ms. Daphne Stelter, for their guidance on bureaucratic procedures, Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation for granting generous financial support, Prof. Hüseyin Bağcı for his mentoring in my whole academic journey, And to my family for their unconditional love and support. 3 Table of Content Acknowledgment ........................................................................................................ 3 Table of Content ......................................................................................................... 4 List of Tables and Figures ......................................................................................... 6 Abbreviations ............................................................................................................. 7 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................... 8 1.1. Research Objectives and Research Questions ........................................ 11 1.2. Case Studies ............................................................................................... 12 1.3. Literature Review ...................................................................................... 18 1.4. Theoretical Framework ............................................................................ 21 1.4.1. Neoclassical Realist Theory of International Politics ..................... 24 1.4.2. Media-Foreign Policy Relations: Framing and Cascading Network Activation Model ............................................................................................... 30 1.4.3. Cascading Network Activation Model ............................................. 35 1.5. Methodology ............................................................................................... 41 1.5.1. “Soft” Positivism ................................................................................ 42 1.5.2. Frame Analysis ................................................................................... 46 1.6. Research Design ......................................................................................... 48 1.6.1. Level of analysis and time frame ...................................................... 48 1.6.2. Structural Realist Background ......................................................... 50 1.6.3. Intervening Variables ........................................................................ 51 1.6.4. The Scope of the Hypothesis ............................................................. 59 1.6.5. Foreign Policy Executive ................................................................... 61 2. Case Study 1: Turkey’s EU Membership Bid ................................................ 64 2.1. Image of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the German Media ..................................................................................................................... 64 2.2. German Elite Media Frame about Turkey’s EU Membership Bid ...... 67 2.3. Frame Elements of Turkey’s EU Accession Bid ..................................... 76 2.4. German Foreign Policy and Turkey’s EU Membership Bid ................. 78 4 2.5. Conclusion .................................................................................................. 82 3. Case Study 2: The Kurdish Problem .............................................................. 85 3.1. German Elite Media Frame about the Kurdish Problem ...................... 85 3.2. Frame Elements of the Kurdish Problem in Turkey ........................... 104 3.3. German Foreign Policy and the Kurdish Problem .............................. 106 3.4. Conclusion ................................................................................................ 111 4. Case Study 3: 2016 EU-Turkey Refugee Deal .............................................. 114 4.1. German Elite Media Frame about the EU-Turkey Refugee Deal ...... 114 4.2. Frame Elements of the EU-Turkey Refugee Deal ................................ 123 4.3. German Foreign Policy and the EU-Turkey Refugee Deal ................. 125 4.4. Conclusion ................................................................................................ 128 5. Case Study 4: 2013 Gezi Park Protests ......................................................... 130 5.1. German Elite Media Frame about the 2013 Gezi Park Protests......... 130 5.2. Frame Elements of the Gezi Park Protests ........................................... 138 5.3. German Foreign Policy and the Gezi Park Protests ............................ 140 5.4. Conclusion ................................................................................................ 146 6. Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 149 6.1. German Media Frames about Turkey ................................................... 149 6.2. Media Frames and Neoclassical Realist Foreign Policy Analysis ....... 153 6.3. Implications for Future Research .......................................................... 156 9. Bibliography ....................................................................................................... 158 APPENDIX A: News Articles ............................................................................... 171 APPENDIX B: Summary ...................................................................................... 178 APPENDIX C: Zusammenfassung ....................................................................... 179 5 List of Tables and Figures Table 1: Classical Realism, Neo-Realism, and Neoclassical Realism Table 2: Foreign policy cases classification in terms of the level of involvement Table 3: Foreign Policy Cases of the Study Figure 1: Cascading Network Activation in Germany Figure 2: Identification of the Problem Definition Function Figure 3: Identification of the Causal Interpretation Function Figure 4: Identification of the Moral Evaluation Function Figure 5: Identification of the Treatment Recommendation Function 6 Abbreviations AKP: Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi) ANAP: Motherland Party (Anavatan Partisi) CDU: Christian Democratic Union of Germany (Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands) CSU: Christian Social Union in Bavaria (Christlich-Soziale Union in Bayern) DSP: Democratic Left Party (Demokratik Sol Parti) DTP: Democratic Society Party (Demokratik Toplum Partisi) EEC: European Economic Community EU: European Union FAZ: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung FDP: Free Democratic Party (Freie Demokratische Partei) HDP: Peoples’ Democratic Party (Halkların Demokratik Partisi) ISIL: Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant IR: International Relations MHP: Nationalist Movement Party (Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi) NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization PKK: Kurdistan Workers’ Party (Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê) PYD: Democratic Union Party (Partiya Yekîtiya Demokrat) SPD: Social Democratic Party of Germany (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands) SZ: Süddeutsche Zeitung YPG: People's Protection Units (Yekîneyên Parastina Gel) 7 1. Introduction Diverse and intense relations that go back many centuries connect Germany and Turkey today with many bilateral and multilateral aspects. Turkey’s strategic importance for the security of Europe, Germany’s major supportive role in Turkey’s political and social reforms even since the Ottoman periods, roughly 4 million people of Turkish descent living in Germany, and intense trade relations, which made Germany the top trade partner of Turkey, are only some critical issues of this very long relationship.1 In fact, as Turkey-expert Günter Seufert rightly argued, in no other country in the world do political developments in Turkey have as much social resonance as in the Federal Republic. Moreover, in German society - as far as Turkey is concerned - there is a unique and often contradictory combination of well- informedness, apparent superiority, and a sense of responsibility.2 As a result of this extraordinary interest toward Turkey, various issues concerning German-Turkish relations have already taken intensive attention in many political, academic, and social discussions.3 Among those various issues, the so-called “Böhmermann affair” was one of the most remarkable examples in recent years, which occurred just a couple of days after the 2016 Refugee Deal signed between the European Union and Turkey. After 1 Reinhard Bettzuege, "Auswärtiger Dienst," in Handbuch zur deutschen