The Flexible Gender Discourse on LGBT Identities in Turkey: A Critical Discourse Analysis

Abstract

How has the image of Turkish queer changed from something that should be protected to something that is alien and dangerous in the period of the AKP (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi/Justice and Development Party) government? In other words, how have LGBT people been portrayed by the AKP representatives in the last 20 years? How has LGBT community become alien and dangerous? How has the AKP government explained this shift in their gender discourse on LGBT identities? Eventually, who is responsible for the protection of LGBT people or for the protection of the nation? This thesis aims to investigate the gender discourse of the current government of Turkey by answering these research questions. The particular focus of the research is on the political approach of the AKP government regarding LGBT rights and freedoms on the basis of the governmental strategies of the foreign policy, specifically of the European Union accession process. In other words, relating the domestic gender discourse to the foreign policy, I aim to analyze the approach of the most powerful elites of Turkey in the last 20 years with regards to LGBT rights and freedoms. In order to reveal power and inequalities, I use critical discourse analysis focusing on the language of the AKP representatives and their rhetoric about the LGBT issues...