Identity and Power in Türkiye–EU Relations: A Post-structuralist Analysis of the Turkish Authoritarian Turn

André Matos and Caio Levy

Contemporary Review of the Middle East, 2026, vol. 13, issue 2, 225-243

Abstract: This article investigates the extent to which the European Union’s (EU) exercise of power has contributed to Türkiye’s political identity transformation, with particular focus on the period surrounding the 2015 refugee crisis. Drawing on post-structuralist theory, especially Michel Foucault’s conceptions of power, discourse, and subjectivity, the article explores how asymmetrical identity constructions operate within EU–Türkiye relations. Through a qualitative discourse analysis of EU reports, official statements, and Turkish political rhetoric, this article argues that the EU’s conditionality-based approach reproduces a hierarchical relationship, reinforcing Türkiye’s status as a normative outsider. In response, Türkiye has developed a counter-hegemonic discourse centered on sovereignty, cultural autonomy, and strategic indispensability. This dual process reveals a dynamic of mutual identity construction: while the EU defines itself through the exclusion of Türkiye, Ankara constructs its identity in opposition to the EU’s liberal-democratic paradigm. By unpacking these discursive formations, the article contributes to a critical understanding of enlargement politics, power asymmetries, and the relational nature of identity in international relations. The findings underscore how discourse functions not only as a mode of interaction but as a site of resistance, reproduction, and symbolic struggle.

Keywords: European Union; Türkiye; identity; poststructuralism; refugee crisis; conditionality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:crmide:v:13:y:2026:i:2:p:225-243

DOI: 10.1177/23477989261427524

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