Words and meanings in Türkiye’s foreign policy discourse

The article examines the words and meanings that form the basis of Türkiye’s foreign policy discourse, what significance in the international arena is growing year after year. Discourse is an essential part of any state’s politics and, at the same time, a significant indicator of dominant sentiments in society. Given Russia’s shift towards the East and its versatile partnership with Türkiye, studying its foreign policy narratives becomes particularly important in terms of strategic planning and bilateral relations prospects. The authors consider the “open” and “closed” discourses of official Ankara and identify the main verbal messages, or “total myths”, that the power elite embeds in the country’s foreign policy. A content analysis of Turkish President R.T. Erdoğan’s public speeches for 2024 is attempted to analyze the frequency and context of key words and foreign policy narratives such as: “leader”, “justice”, “hub” and “World is bigger than five”. The article reveals that the keyword that stands out in 2024 was “justice” that became the dominant narrative in most of Erdoğan’s speeches. The correlation between declared words and narratives and their corresponding semantic load has been also studied. The author concludes that almost all narratives are endowed with several meanings, and the narrative of “justice” is a collective one. However, Türkiye’s interpretation of some words and concepts may significantly differ from generally accepted norms or those of other societies. Therefore, it seems that not all of these narratives can compete with the discursive elements of the external environment.

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