“…It is a concern about the continuity of the Turkish nation‐state order that interprets new developments, such as the BOP, as a danger. This is parallel to the previous studies on the Sèvres syndrome, which indicate that currently the political Islamists and nationalists use the syndrome in their reactions to the changes related to globalization, the EU, and increasing human rights discourse in the country (Göçek, ; Yılmaz, ). Moreover, Göçek () and Yılmaz () mention the DTP and the AKP as the opposite side and unlikely to propagate the Sèvres syndrome.…”
Section: Discussionsupporting
confidence: 84%
“…This is parallel to the previous studies on the Sèvres syndrome, which indicate that currently the political Islamists and nationalists use the syndrome in their reactions to the changes related to globalization, the EU, and increasing human rights discourse in the country (Göçek, ; Yılmaz, ). Moreover, Göçek () and Yılmaz () mention the DTP and the AKP as the opposite side and unlikely to propagate the Sèvres syndrome. Primarily, because both political parties use these accounts to voice their anxieties about Turkish society, emerging from the Sèvres syndrome, the ontological insecurities of the MHP and the SP appear to be the genesis of the conspiratorial theories on the Dönmes.…”
Despite its ever‐present and at times escalating significance, conspiracy theory is an under‐researched topic in the social sciences. This paper analyses the political influence of conspiracy theories by drawing on semi‐structured interviews with the representatives of four major political parties from the Turkish parliament about widespread anti‐Semitic conspiracy theories regarding Dönmes (converts). The findings indicate that right‐wing political parties problematize the secret character of the Dönme community and use the conspiracy theories to express their own ontological insecurities emerging from the Sèvres syndrome. Left‐wing and liberal parties conversely dissociate themselves from the conspiratorial rhetoric. The research concludes that the political parties reject or accept the conspiracy theories rationally and in alignment with their own ontological insecurities; by doing so, they pragmatically confirm their individual ideological perspective.
“…It is a concern about the continuity of the Turkish nation‐state order that interprets new developments, such as the BOP, as a danger. This is parallel to the previous studies on the Sèvres syndrome, which indicate that currently the political Islamists and nationalists use the syndrome in their reactions to the changes related to globalization, the EU, and increasing human rights discourse in the country (Göçek, ; Yılmaz, ). Moreover, Göçek () and Yılmaz () mention the DTP and the AKP as the opposite side and unlikely to propagate the Sèvres syndrome.…”
Section: Discussionsupporting
confidence: 84%
“…This is parallel to the previous studies on the Sèvres syndrome, which indicate that currently the political Islamists and nationalists use the syndrome in their reactions to the changes related to globalization, the EU, and increasing human rights discourse in the country (Göçek, ; Yılmaz, ). Moreover, Göçek () and Yılmaz () mention the DTP and the AKP as the opposite side and unlikely to propagate the Sèvres syndrome. Primarily, because both political parties use these accounts to voice their anxieties about Turkish society, emerging from the Sèvres syndrome, the ontological insecurities of the MHP and the SP appear to be the genesis of the conspiratorial theories on the Dönmes.…”
Despite its ever‐present and at times escalating significance, conspiracy theory is an under‐researched topic in the social sciences. This paper analyses the political influence of conspiracy theories by drawing on semi‐structured interviews with the representatives of four major political parties from the Turkish parliament about widespread anti‐Semitic conspiracy theories regarding Dönmes (converts). The findings indicate that right‐wing political parties problematize the secret character of the Dönme community and use the conspiracy theories to express their own ontological insecurities emerging from the Sèvres syndrome. Left‐wing and liberal parties conversely dissociate themselves from the conspiratorial rhetoric. The research concludes that the political parties reject or accept the conspiracy theories rationally and in alignment with their own ontological insecurities; by doing so, they pragmatically confirm their individual ideological perspective.
“…The local factors which shape this perception can include 'cognitive' and/or 'normative priors' (Björkdahl et al, 2015 p. 5), otherwise also referred to as 'cultural filters' (Manners, 2002) based on 'historically constructed domestic norms' (Checkel, 1999, p. 87). Here, such priors would include the continued existence of the Sèvres syndrome, as also previously identified by Yılmaz (2011), which runs the risk of undermining the EU's normativity in the Turkish context, or the perceived cultural and religious incompatibility, also observed in Yılmaz's (2011) earlier data, which is used in countering arguments on the significance of the EU's normative impact. Yet, the data show that in the Turkish case, the notion of 'cultural filter' needs to be expanded to account for the government/opposition dynamics concerning the state of democracy in the country.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 97%
“…Another type of ethical‐political argumentation used in de‐legitimizing the EU, while rarely used to directly contest arguments in favour of the EU's normativity, relates to the fears of territorial partition by the Western powers that surface widely across the Turkish public, also referred to as the Sèvres syndrome in Yılmaz's () earlier work on Euroscepticism in Turkey, as expressed in the following: …”
Section: Findings: How Does the Turkish Public Justify The Eu?mentioning
This article aims to explore whether – and if so, how – the EU is perceived as a normative power (NPE) in Turkey in the context of deteriorating Turkey–EU relations. By adopting the Habermasian understanding that legitimacy is a prerequisite for NPE and through employing a focus group methodology novel to NPE research, the article finds that a certain segment of the Turkish public views the EU as a normative power, suggesting that claims for the existence of NPE need to be qualified both by the level of analysis and by the local context which comprises socio‐cultural factors as well as government/opposition dynamics. The article also shows that contestation of the EU's actorness takes place over moral and ethical‐political arguments rather than utility‐based debates, demonstrating that polarization is noticeably present as far as the EU's normativity is concerned, and not on the perceived costs and benefits of EU accession.
“…While EU membership remained at the level of a theoretical or macro project, what society at large thought about EU accession seemed not to be of great concern by the political elites, and the leaders of the mainstream parties generally favoured a westward focus. Since acceptance of candidacy in 1999 and particularly since negotiations have formally commenced in 2005 (Yılmaz 2011), the nitty-gritty details of reform that touch on sensitive social issues have given political opponents opportunity to create social discomfort toward the idea of EU accession and its 'impositions' on the national status quo. 2 Thus, it is important to consider how changes in domestic politics and competition among political elites might impact attitudes toward the EU.…”
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