THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF TURKISH VATAN: GEOGRAPHY AND FOREIGN POLICY A thesis Presented to the Faculty of Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy by BEHLÜL ÖZKAN In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy SEPTEMBER 2009 Dissertation Committee Professor Andrew C. Hess, Chair Professor Alan K. Henrikson Professor Feroz Ahmad UMI Number: 3390192 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI 3390192 Copyright 2010 by ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This edition of the work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346 Table of Contents Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………………..…II Curriculum Vitae…………………………………………………………………………….…IV Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………...VII Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………………..IX Introduction....................................................................................................................................1 Chapter I Methodology and Research Questions.......................................................................6 I. 1. Realist Hegemony in the Discipline of International Relations I. 2. Problem Solving Theory of Realism I. 3. Critical Theory and International Relations I. 4. A Postmodern Turn in International Relations I. 5. Turkey’s Foreign Policy as a Discourse Chapter II Genealogy of Vatan...................................................................................................49 II. 1. Ottoman Cosmology Facing the West II. 2. The French Revolution and Remaking the Concept of Vatan II. 3. Promoting an Imperial Vatan to Encourage Ottoman Patriotism II. 4. Young Turk Era Chapter III From Imperial to National Vatan..........................................................................98 III. 1. Between Ottomanism, Islamism, and pan-Turkism III. 2. Imagining Anatolia as a National Vatan III. 3. Conclusion Chapter IV From Geography to Vatan....................................................................................158 IV. 1. Geography Education During the Late Ottoman Period II IV. 2. Turkification of Geography after the Establishment of Republic IV. 3. Geography Education after the Second World War IV. 4. Conclusion Chapter V Vatan and Turkey’s Foreign Policy Discourse……………….............................207 V. 1. Nonaligned Foreign Policy from 1923 to 1939: Defending Vatan against European Imperialism V. 2. Turkey’s Foreign Policy Discourse during the Cold War: Protecting Vatan from the Enemies V. 3. Representation of the Soviet Union as a Threat to Vatan V. 4. Representing the Korean War as a Fight for Vatan against Communism V. 5. Cyprus: From Baby-Vatan to a Gangrenous Problem V. 6. Conclusion Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………..………289 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………...293 III Behlül Özkan [email protected] EDUCATION 2005- The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University Medford, MA, USA Successfully passed the Comprehensive Exams on Geopolitics, Europe and the Middle East, May 2005 PhD Dissertation: “The Social Construction of Turkish Vatan: Geography and Foreign Policy” 2002 – 2005 The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University Medford, MA, USA Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy, May 2004 Honors Thesis: “New Geopolitics of Energy Security of Europe” 1993 – 1998 Boğaziçi University Istanbul, Turkey Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Political Science ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS August 2008 “Who Gains From the `No War, No Peace` Situation? A Critical Analysis of the Nagorno- Karabakh Conflict,” Journal of Geopolitics 13, no.3 (August 2008): 574-601 October 2006 “New Geopolitics of Energy in the Black Sea Region,” in The Black Sea Region Countries and Prospective Relationships with European Union (Tbilisi: International Black Sea University Press, 2006), 43-50 OTHER PUBLICATIONS April 2009 “24 Nisan Geride Kalırken,” Radikal, April 26th, 2009 July 2008 “Amerikan Rüyası Kabusa Dönerken,” Birikim 230-231 (July*August 2008): 157-161 November 2007 “Ermenistan’da Đktidarı Değiştirmek,” Referans, November 16th 2007 October 2007 “Milliyetçilik Kısırdöngüsünde Bir Ülke: Ermenistan,” Radikal, October 7th, 2007 TEACHING EXPERIENCE Summer 2009 Boğaziçi University, Department of Political Science and International Relations Istanbul, Turkey Pols 439 Diplomacy and Foreign Policy Analysis IV ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE February 2009 Ties That Bind and Ties That Divide Conference, University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, PA, USA Speaker at the Seminar of Global Challenges vs. Local Interests • Presented an article about Transformation of Geopolitical Discourse of Turkey January 2008 Harvard Humanitarian Initiative Cambridge, MA, USA Speaker and one of the five members of the Turkish Team • Participated in the Turkish-Armenian workshop as a speaker of the Turkish team composed by academicians and diplomats September 2007 Beyond the Nation Conference 2007, Queens University Belfast, United Kingdom Speaker at the Seminar of Problematizing Ethnic Conflict in a Globalized World • Presented an article about the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict February 2007 5th International Conference of Eurasian Political Studies Network Moscow, Russia Speaker at the Seminar of Ethnic Factors and External Challenges • Presented an article about the Geopolitics of the Caucasus October 2006 3rd International Silk Road Symposium Tbilisi, Georgia Speaker at the Black Sea Energy Security Seminar • Presented a published article about the European Energy Security from the Black Sea perspective PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE 2004- 2006 BTU Ventures Waltham, MA and Dubai, UAE Assistant Vice President, Market Intelligence, Technology and Research • Performed research analysis on various company initiatives and projects, especially in Middle East • Prepared and presented market intelligence reports in power and energy sector • Produced a comprehensive report on Turkish Energy Sector July 2003 Botaş Petroleum Pipeline Cooperation Ankara, Turkey Analyst, Foreign Relations and Strategies Department • Delivered a report on EU natural gas policy and Russia’s increasing influence on EU’s energy security V 1998 - 2002 CNN Türk Broadcasting Company Istanbul, Turkey Foreign Affairs Correspondent and Regional Analyst • Produced political and economic analysis based on visits to Iran, Macedonia, Greece, Bulgaria and Azerbaijan, interviews with senior policy makers from those countries • Conducted research for a television documentary “Azerbaijan, Oil and its Future” PERSONAL • Citizen of Turkey • Languages: Turkish (native), English (fluent), German (fluent), Ottoman Turkish(intermediate) • Exchange student to Cologne, Germany summer 1989, Moscow, USSR summer 1991 • Member of Eskişehirspor Football Club VI Abstract The traditional geopolitical discourse of Turkey is based on the belief that Turkey is located in a unique geography in the world and therefore Turkish homeland, ‘vatan,’ is besieged by internal and external enemies. Vatan has acquired an ahistorical and ontological status, considered as a timeless natural symbol of reality of Turkish nation state. Far from being neutral and authentic, vatan has been a historically constructed spatial grid, upon which various political forces have battled for the control of the national power structure and for the hegemony in physically controlling and representing the vatan. By problematizing the established geographical assumption of Turkey’s foreign policy based upon the nation being engulfed and surrounded by internal and external threats, the dissertation leads to an understanding that defending the vatan legitimizes and confers hegemonic status to the holders of political power. Three noticeable cases in Turkey’s foreign policy are examined: political conflict with the Soviet Union after the Second World War and Turkey’s entry into the anti-Soviet camp, Turkey’s participation in the Korean War, and the Cyprus conflict. Defending the vatan was the common denominator in all these three cases: disagreements with the Soviet Union were reflected as an assault on Turkey’s territorial integrity, Turkey’s participation in the Korean war was defended by the ruling Democrat Party as protecting the vatan from a ‘communist threat’ in the distant Korean peninsula, and the Cyprus conflict was transformed into a nationalist discourse by depicting the island as ‘baby-vatan.’ The dissertation also analyzes how nationalist discourse had become established in educational materials, particularly how state education implanted national ideals into geography textbooks and promoted Turkish national identity and the country’s spatial and cultural features. VII It aims to understand the nationalist representation of space in Turkey and the production of geographical knowledge by the Turkish state to justify its own power and authority over its citizens. Instead of considering national essences as commonsense and matters of fact, the dissertation deconstructs them to reveal processes of power and rhetoric. Processes rather than essences invent national homeland and national boundaries and treat them as meaningful. VIII Acknowledgements Like any other Ph.D. student, at the end of the seven years long graduate