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CHANGING NATURALIZATION DISCOURSES for NEOLIBERAL MEGA PROJECTS UNDER AKP RULE: CASES of 3Rd BRIDGE, 3Rd AIRPORT and CANAL ISTANBUL

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CHANGING NATURALIZATION DISCOURSES for NEOLIBERAL MEGA PROJECTS UNDER AKP RULE: CASES of 3Rd BRIDGE, 3Rd AIRPORT and CANAL ISTANBUL HACER HACER ERİŞ CHANGING CHANGING NATURALIZATION DISCOURSES FOR NEOLIBERAL MEGA PROJECTS UNDER RULE AKP BİLKENT UNIVERSITY 2017 CHANGING NATURALIZATION DISCOURSES FOR NEOLIBERAL MEGA PROJECTS UNDER AKP RULE: CASES OF 3rd BRIDGE, 3rd AIRPORT AND CANAL ISTANBUL A Master’s Thesis by HACER ERİŞ Department of International Relations İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University Ankara August 2017 CHANGING NATURALIZATION DISCOURSES FOR NEOLIBERAL MEGA PROJECTS UNDER AKP RULE: CASES OF 3rd BRIDGE, 3rd AIRPORT AND CANAL ISTANBUL The Graduate School of Economics and Social Sciences of İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University by HACER ERİŞ In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS THE DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS İHSAN DOĞRAMACI BİLKENT UNIVERSITY ANKARA August 2017 ABSTRACT CHANGING NATURALIZATION DISCOURSES FOR NEOLIBERAL MEGA PROJECTS UNDER AKP RULE: CASES OF 3rd BRIDGE, 3rd AIRPORT AND CANAL ISTANBUL Eriş, Hacer M.A Department of International Relations Supervisor: Berk Esen August, 2017 This thesis elaborates on the question of how Justice and Development Party’s (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP) articulation of legitimization discourses for mega projects such as 3rd Bridge, 3rd Airport and Canal Istanbul changes in line with the rising opposition at both domestic and international levels. The thesis utilizes Historical Marxist Geography’s insights to indicate the issues to be legitimized about the neoliberal urban practices; such as gentrification of cities, strengthening of class- relations, rent seeking motives behind urban management and exclusion of majority from the decision-making procedures. While Marxist geographers argue that the elites articulate legitimization discourses based on economic development, environmental sustainability and urban security promises; they tend to ignore the socio-political context. This thesis directs attention to the socio-political atmosphere to analyze how AKP elites articulate their naturalization discourses. The historical i process of AKP’s construction of hegemony over domestic politics led to the emergence of strong opposition since 2013. The evolution of the Party’s articulation of the opposition and further othering practices against it will be analyzed to demonstrate how AKP has articulated these developments for the legitimization discourses of neoliberal mega projects. To understand the changes in legitimization discourses, the Critical Discourse Analysis will be employed on the speeches given by AKP elites between 2010-2013 - in the absence of widespread opposition - and after 2013, when the government had started to face strong opposition in domestic and international arenas and pursued further othering practices against alleged enemies. Key words: AKP, discourse, hegemony construction, neoliberal urbanism, opposition. ii ÖZET NEOLİBERAL MEGA PROJELER İÇİN AKP DÖNEMİNDE DEĞİŞEN TAABİLEŞTİRME SÖYLEMLERİ: 3. KÖPRÜ, 3. HAVALİMANI VE KANAL İSTANBUL ÖRNEKLERİ Eriş, Hacer Yüksek Lisans, Uluslararası İlişkiler Bölümü Danışman: Berk Esen Ağustos, 2017 Bu tez, 3. Köprü, 3. Havaalanı ve Kanal İstanbul gibi mega projeler için Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi'nin (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP) meşrulaştırma söylemlerini yurtiçi ve yurtdışı boyutlarında artan muhalefet doğrultusunda nasıl değiştirdiği sorusunu ele alıyor. Tez, Tarihi Marksist Coğrafyanın görüşlerini, neoliberal kent uygulamaları hakkında meşrulaştırılacak sınıf ilişkilerinin güçlendirilmesi, kentsel yönetimindeki rant arayışı ve çoğunluğun karar alma usullerinden çıkarılması gibi konuları göstermek için kullanıyor. Marksist coğrafyacılar seçkinlerin meşruiyet söylemlerini ekonomik kalkınma, çevresel sürdürülebilirlik ve kentsel güvenlik vaatlerine dayanarak ifade ettiklerini belirtirlerken, sosyo-politik bağlamı görmezden gelme eğilimindedirler. Bu tez, AKP elitlerinin tabiileştirme söylemlerini nasıl iii kurguladıklarını analiz etmek için dikkatleri sosyo-politik atmosfere yönlendiriyor. AKP'nin iç politika üzerine hegemonya inşasının tarihi süreci, 2013'ten beri güçlü bir muhalefetin ortaya çıkmasına yol açtı. Partinin muhalefeti nasıl anlamlandırdığı ve buna karşı uyguladığı ötekileştirme faaliyetleri, AKP'nin bu gelişmeleri nasıl neo- liberal mega projelerin yasallaştırma söylemlerine entegre ettiğini göstermek için analiz edilecektir. Meşruiyet söylemindeki değişiklikleri anlamak için, Eleştirel Söylem Analizi, yaygın muhalefet olmayan 2010-2013 yılları arasında ve güçlü bir muhalefetle karşılaşmaya başladığı ve sözde düşmanlara karşı daha çok ötekileştirme politikası uyguladığı 2013 ve sonrası dönemlerdeki, AKP seçkinleri tarafından verilen konuşmalara uygulanacaktır. Anahtar kelimeler: AKP, hegemonya inşası, muhalefet, neoliberal şehircilik, söylem. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor Assistant Professor Berk ESEN and my former supervisor Assistant Professor Clemens Maximilian Hoffman. They have been providing invaluable guidance. I would have not been written this thesis without their advice and encouragement throughout this journey. I am also grateful to Professor Özlem TÜR and Professor Faruk YALVAÇ who have been always supportive on every single issue since my undergraduate years with their wisdom and prosperous experience. Their advice and support mean a lot. I wish to thank my thesis committee member Assistant Professor Seçkin KÖSTEM for his constructive comments and criticism on this thesis. I would like to thank my beloved friends Elif and İskender. They have always been on my side whenever I needed and words cannot describe how I appreciate their sympathy and understanding. I would like to express my gratitude to my father and mother who have always been supporting my academic career. Last but not least, I am indebted to my beloved A.C.K who has been source of passion, happiness and most importantly hope in my life. v TABLE OF CONTENT ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... i ÖZET ............................................................................................................................. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ..................................................................................................... v TABLE OF CONTENT ....................................................................................................... vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................... viii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER II: THEORATICAL FRAMEWORK: EXISTING POWER RELATIONS IN SPACE .............10 THEORATICAL FRAMEWORK: EXISTING POWER RELATIONS IN SPACE ...............................10 2.1. The Need for a Historical Marxist Geography.........................................................11 2.1.1. Historical Marxist Geographical Knowledge and Theorising..............................12 2.1.2. The Problem of Overaccumulation .................................................................14 2.1.3. The Role of State in Historical Marxist Geography ...........................................18 2.2. Neoliberal Transformation and Space ...................................................................23 2.3. Neoliberal Naturalization Discourses.....................................................................26 2.3.1. Economic Development/Growth Discourse .....................................................27 2.3.2. Environmental Sustainability Discourse...........................................................30 2.3.3. Urban Security Discourse ...............................................................................32 2.4. Istanbul’s Experience of Urbanization in the Literature ..........................................33 2.4.1. Neoliberal Economic Model and Urbanization.................................................34 2.4.2. The Rising Importance of Urban Competitiveness............................................40 2.5. Conclusion ..........................................................................................................41 CHAPTER III: AKP’S HISTORICAL CONSTRUCTION OF HEGEMONY OVER TURKISH DOMESTIC REALM ..........................................................................................................................44 3.1. Rise of AKP in Turkish Political Scene and AKP’s Background ..................................46 3.1.1 Turkish Political Environment before the 2002 Parliamentary Elections .............46 3.1.2. Manifestation of AKP’s Identity before 2002 Elections .....................................50 3.2. Consolidation of AKP’s Hegemony over Domestic Realm ........................................52 3.3. The Results of AKP’s Hegemonic Practices since 2013 ............................................59 3.4. Conclusion ..........................................................................................................67 vi CHAPTER IV: CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF URBAN MEGA PROJECTS IN ISTANBUL .....69 4.1. Epistemology and Ontology of Post-Structuralist Discourse Analysis .......................70 4.2. Conducting Critical Discourse Analysis on Three Mega Projects ..............................73 4.2.1. Introductory Notes on the Mega Projects .......................................................74 4.2.1.1. 3rd Bridge (Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge) .....................................................75 4.2.1.2. 3rd Airport...............................................................................................75
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