Security in Turkish Politics: An Analysis of the Political Discourse of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to investigate two presidential terms in Türkiye in order to compare the place of security in the political discourse of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in particular, and in Turkish politics at this time in general. The mixed methodological approach has been taken in the article. The MAXQDA software program has been used to collect and analyse data from more than 850 of President Erdoğan’s speeches. The key research questions are as follows: how important are the security issues in the political rhetoric of the President? Are there any differences in this regard between Erdoğan’s fi rst and second presidency? Did the state of emergency and introduction of the presidential system make any difference in this regard? What are the reasons for the place of security, as identified in the analysis, in Turkish political discourse and politics?