DEMOCRACY IN THE DISCOURSE OF JUSTICE AND DEVELOPMENT PARTY A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY AYSUN GÜNEŞ IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY SEPTEMBER 2014 Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Meliha ALTUNIŞIK Director I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science. Prof. Dr. Ayşe SAKTANBER Head of Department This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Erdoğan YILDIRIM Supervisor Examining Committee Members Assoc. Prof. Dr. Samet BAĞÇE (METU, PHIL) ________________________ Assoc. Prof. Dr. Erdoğan YILDIRIM (METU, SOC) _______________________ Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mustafa ŞEN (METU, SOC) ________________________ I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last name: Aysun GÜNEŞ Signature : iii ABSTRACT DEMOCRACY IN THE DISCOURSE OF JUSTICE AND DEVELOPMENT PARTY Güneş, Aysun M.S., Department of Sociology Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Erdoğan Yıldırım September 2014, 110 pages The aim of this thesis is to understand the democracy in the discourse of Justice and Development Party (JDP). This is done by examining the discourse of democracy within the frame of JDP‟s conservative democratic identity. JDP makes a separation as old and the new Turkey and claims that JDP government represents the new Turkey. Therefore, this thesis tries to explain which elements the discourse of democracy includes and excludes on the basis of the separation between old and the new Turkey. Keywords: Democracy, old Turkey, new Turkey, nation, national will iv ÖZ ADALET VE KALKINMA PARTİSİ‟NİN DEMOKRASİ SÖYLEMİ Güneş, Aysun Yüksek Lisans, Sosyoloji Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Doç. Dr. Erdoğan Yıldırım Eylül 2014, 110 sayfa Bu tezin amacı Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi‟nin (AKP) demokrasi söylemini anlamaktır. Demokrasi söylemi AKP‟nin muhafazakar kimliği çerçevesinde incelenmiştir. AKP, Türkiye tarihini eski ve yeni Türkiye olarak ikiye ayırmaktadır ve AKP hükümeti olarak kendilerini yeni Türkiye‟nin temsilcisi olarak sunmaktadır. Yeni Türkiye ise AKP hükümeti tarafından ileri demokrasi ile tanımlanmaktadır. Bu nedenle bu çalışma AKP hükümetinin eski ve yeni Türkiye ayrımı temelinde demokrasi söyleminin içerdiği ve dışladığı öğeleri tanımlama ve anlamaya yöneliktir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Demokrasi, eski Türkiye, yeni Türkiye, millet, milli irade v DEDICATION To my beloved aunt, Nebahat Güneş vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Assoc. Prof. Dr. Erdoğan Yıldırım for his support, encouragement, patience and wisdom. This work would not be possible without him. When I first had the chance of listening him, I thought that myths were not products of imagination since I felt the owl of Minerva around us. I am also grateful to my examining committee members, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Samet Bağçe and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Şen for their valuable contributions and criticisms. I would also like to express my gratitude and love to Necmettin Durmuş for his support. His love always makes me feel that it does not matter how hard a work is; if you do it with love, it will both change you and your work miraculously. I am so lucky to walk this way with you. Your love strengthens me. I am very lucky to have friends like you Gülbin Şengül and Ece Özçeri. It is hard to explain my love to you since; as opposed to hate, love is so open to interpretation. It is sometimes a poem, a picture or a piece of music. I can define Gülbin as a cold water that wakes me up from my daydreams and show me reality kindly. Ece is my olive branch bringing the smell of Aegean See. I am also grateful to Vivaldi; especially his work “La Follia” that fed my tired soul frequently. I would lastly thank to my beloved family; Muharrem Güneş, Sultan Güneş and Ersin Güneş for their love, patience and trust in me. I am very lucky to have such a great family. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM.............................................................................................................iii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................ iv ÖZ ................................................................................................................................. v DEDICATION ............................................................................................................ vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .......................................................................................... vii TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................... x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ..................................................................................... xi INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1. Aim of the Study ....................................................................................................... 1 1.2. Research Procedure and Methodology .................................................................... 3 1.3. Organization of the Thesis ........................................................................................ 7 CONSERVATIVE DEMOCRATIC IDENTITY OF THE JUSTICE AND DEVELOPMENT PARTY .......................................................................................... 9 2.1 An Overview of National Outlook Movement History ................................................... 9 2.1.1 Ideological Framework of National Outlook Movement....................................... 14 2.1.2 Reasons of Justice and Development Party’s Breaking Up with National Outlook Movement ...................................................................................................................... 18 2.2 Conservative Democratic Identity of Justice and Development Party ......................... 24 DISCURSIVE FORMATION OF THE DEMOCRACY: ......................................... 34 HISTORY OF THE “NEW TURKEY” ..................................................................... 34 3.1 Construction of Nation / National Will in the Period of Justice and Development Party ............................................................................................................................................ 36 3.1.1 Dualities ................................................................................................................. 39 3.1.1.1 Secularism / Conservatism ................................................................................. 39 3.1.1.2 Center / Periphery .............................................................................................. 47 3.1.1.3 Elites/People....................................................................................................... 53 3.1.1.4 Operations .......................................................................................................... 57 3.2 Invention of Tradition ................................................................................................... 60 3.3 Mythologization ........................................................................................................... 66 EXPANSION OF THE DISCOURSE OF OLD TURKEY....................................... 70 viii 4.1 Gezi Protests ................................................................................................................ 71 4.2 Events of December 17-25: Cemaat – Justice and Development Party Conflict ......... 79 CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................... 86 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................... 89 APPENDICES ......................................................................................................... 102 APPENDIX A. Tezin Türkçe Özeti ................................................................................. 102 APPENDIX B. Tez Fotokopisi İzin Formu ........................................................................... 110 ix LIST OF FIGURES FIGURES FIGURE 1. 1071 MALAZGIRT VICTORY CELEBRATIONS ............................................... 62 FIGURE 2. A BILLBOARD INVITING PEOPLE TO THE HOLY BIRTH WEEK ACTIVITIES .... 65 FIGURE 3. A SYMBOL REPRESENTING THE DEMONSTRATION IN RABIATÜL ADEVVIYYE AGAINST THE EGYPTIAN COUP D‟ÉTAT IN 2013 ................................................... 66 FIGURE 4. A BILLBOARD SHOWING THE POPULAR SUPPORT DURING GEZI PROTESTS IN MAY 2013 ............................................................................................................ 79 x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS JDP : Justice and Development Party NOM : National Outlook Movement NO : National Outlook NOP : National Order Party TOBB : Union Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey JP : Justice Party NSP : National Salvation Party RPP : Republican People‟s