Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T06:15:21.893Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Communicating Turkish-Islamic identity in the aftermath of the Gaza flotilla raid: Who is the “us” in “us” versus “them”?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2015

Lemi Baruh  and
Mihaela Popescu
Lemi Baruh
Affiliation:
Koç University, Department of Media and Visual Arts, Rumelifeneri Yolu, 34450, Sariyer-İstanbul, Turkey, [email protected]
Mihaela Popescu
Affiliation:
California State University, San Bernardino, Department of Communication Studies, 5500 University Parkway, San Bernardino, CA 92407-2397, USA, [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

On May 31,2010, Israeli Defense Forces raided the ship Mavi Marmara, part of a six-vessel flotilla aiming to break the Israeli naval blockade of the Gaza Strip and to deliver supplies to Gaza. Using comments posted on Turkish online discussion forums in the aftermath of the raid that resulted in the death of nine passengers, this article analyzes how the incident was appropriated to negotiate between Turkishness and Islam as two alternative, yet coinciding forms of collective identity. Particularly, the article will compare different discursive strategies that were utilized in “general-interest” and “Islamic-leaning” online discussion groups. A deductive thematic analysis of 585 posts in general-interest and Islamic-leaning forums found significant differences in how metaphors of the body—blood, sacrifice, and martyrdom—as well as in-group/out-group comparisons were used in order to support a territorial-based nationalism versus a religion-based identity. The analysis also discusses the rhetoric that enabled discussants in general-interest forums to negotiate the tensions between the two collective identities.

Keywords

Mavi Marmaracollective identityidentity and belongingTurkish-Islamic identitynationalism
Type
Research Article
Information
New Perspectives on Turkey , Volume 45: Special Issue on Turkishness and Its Discontents , Fall 2011 , pp. 75 - 99
Copyright
Copyright © New Perspectives on Turkey 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Altinordu, Ates. “The Politicization of Religion: Political Catholicism and Political Islam in Comparative Perspective.” Politics of Society 38, no. 4 (2010): 517–551.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Refections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Rev. and extended ed. London: Verso, 1991.Google Scholar
Ayubi, Nazih. Political Islam: Religion and Politics in the Arab World. London: Routledge, 1991.Google Scholar
Aznar, José Maria. “Support Israel: If It Goes Down, We All Co Down; Anger over Gaza Is a Distraction. We Cannot Forget That Israel is the West’s Best Ally in a Turbulent Region.” The Times, June 17, 2010.Google Scholar
Baruh, Lemi and Mihaela, Popescu. “Guiding Metaphors of Nationalism: The Cyprus Issue and the Construction of Turkish National Identity in Online Discussions.” Discourse and Communication 2, no. 1 (2008): 79–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bock, Gisela, and Pat, Thane. Maternity and Gender Policies: Women and the Rise of the European Welfare States, 188os–195os. London: Routledge, 1991.Google Scholar
Boyatzis, Richard E.Transforming Qualitative Information: Thematic Analysis and Code Development. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1998.Google Scholar
Bryant, Rebecca. “The Purity of Spirit and the Power of Blood: A Comparitive Perspective on Nation,Gender and Kinship.” Royal Anthropological Institute, no. 8, 2002.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cannidine, David. “The Context, Performance and Meaning of Ritual: The British Monarchy and the ‘Invention of Tradition’.” In The Invention of Tradition, edited by Eric, Hobsbawm and Terence, Ranger, 15–42. Cambridge, 1983.Google Scholar
Carter, Sue, Kang, Myung-Hyung, and Ralph, Taggart. “An Interdisciplinary Approach to a Critical Incident Course.” Journalism & Mass Communication Educator 54, no. 2 (1999): 4–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cizre, Ümit and Menderes, çinar. “Turkey 2002: Kemalism, Islamism and Politics in the Light of the February 28 Process.” The South Atlantic Quarterly 102, no. 2/3 (2003): 309–332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Çaǧliyan-lçener, Zeyneb. “The Justice and Development Party’s Conception of “Conservative Democracy”: Invention or Reinterpretation?” Turkish Studies 10, no. 4 (2009): 595–612.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Çarkoǧ lu, Ali. “A New Electoral Victory for the ‘Pro-Islamists’ or the ‘New Centre-Right‘? The Justice and Development Party Phenomenon in the July 2007 Parliamentary Elections in Turkey.” South European Society and Politics 12, no. 4 (2007): 501–519.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Çinar, Menderes. “Turkey’s Transformation under the AKP Rule.” The Muslim World 96, no. 3 (2006): 469–486.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dursun, Çiler. “Tûrk-islâm Sentezi Ideolojisi ve Ôznesi.” Doǧ u-Bati 7, no. 25 (2003): 59–82.Google Scholar
Eley, Geoff, and Ronald Grigor, Suny. “Introduction: From the Moment of Social History to the Work of Cultural Representation.” In Becoming National: A Reader, edited by Geoff, Eley and Ronald Grigor, Suny, 3–37. Oxford, 1996.Google Scholar
Elshtain, Jean Bethe. “Sovereignty, Identity, Sacrifice.” Journal of International Studies 20, no. 3 (1991): 395–406.Google Scholar
Fishman, Joshua. “Social Theory and Ethnogarphy: Neglected Perspectives on Language and Ethnicity in Eastern Europe.” In Ethnic Diversity and Confici in Eastern Europe, edited by Sugar, P.F.Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 1980.Google Scholar
Flanagan, John C. “The Critical Incident Technique.” Psychological Bulletin 51, no. 4 (1954): 327–358.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Geertz, Clifford. ‘The Integrative Revolution: Primordial Sentiments and Civil Politics in the New States.” In Old Societies and New States, edited by Clifford, Geertz, 105–157. New York: Free Press, 1963.Google Scholar
Gellner, Ernest. Nations and Nationalism, New Perspectives on the Past. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1983.Google Scholar
Grigoriadis, loannis N. “Islam and Democratization in Turkey: Secularism and Trust in a Divided Society.” Democratization 16, no. 6 (2009): 1194–1213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GCilalp, Haldun. “The Crisis of Westernization in Turkey: Islamism versus Nationalism.” The European Journal of Social Sciences 8, no. 2 (1995): 175–182.Google Scholar
Hayes, Carlton, and Joseph, Huntley. Nationalism: A Religion. New York: Macmillan, 1960.Google Scholar
Haynes, Jeffrey. “Politics, Identity and Religious Nationalism in Turkey: From Ataturk to the AKP.” Australian Journal of International Affairs 64, no. 3 (2010): 312–327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heper, Metin. “Turkey: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.” Southeast European and Black Sea Studies 1, no.3 (2001): 1–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herzfeld, Michael. Cultural Intimacy: Social Poetics in the Nation-State. New York: Routledge, 1997.Google Scholar
Hobsbawm, Eric J., and Terence, 0. Ranger. The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.Google Scholar
Kandiyoti, Deniz. “Identity and Its Discontents: Women and the Nation.” Millenium Journal of International Studies 20, no. 3 (1991): 429–443.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kapferer, Bruce. “Legends of People, Myths of State Violence, Intolerance, and Political Culture in Sri Lanka and Australia.” Smithsonian Series in Ethnographic Inquiry, no. 7. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1988.Google Scholar
Karakaya-Polat, Rabia. “The 2007 Parliamentary Elections in Turkey: Between Securitisation and Desecuritisation.” Parliamentary Affairs 62, no. 1 (2008): 129–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koven, Seth, and Sonya, Michel. Mothers of a New World: Maternalist Politics and the Origins of Welfare States. New York, N.Y.: Routledge, 1993.Google Scholar
Kushner, David. “Self-Perception and Identity in Contemporary Turkey.” Journal of Contemporary History 32, no. 2 (1997): 219–233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mardin, Jerif. “Centre-Periphery Relations: A Key to Turkish Politics.” Daedalus 102, no. 1 (1973): 169–190.Google Scholar
Mardin, Jerif. “Ideology and Religion in the Turkish Revolution.” International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 2, no. 3 (1971): 197–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marvin, Carolyn, and David, W. Ingle. Blood Sacrifice and the Nation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.Google Scholar
Mavratsas, Ceaser V. “The Ideological Contest between Creek-Cypriot Nationalism and Cypriotism 1974¬1995: Politics, Social Memory, and Identity.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 20, no. 4 (1997): 717–737.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mills, Wright C. “Situated Actions and Vocabularies of Motives.” American Sociological Review 5, no. 6 (1940): 904–913.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mosse, George L.Fallen Soldiers: Reshaping the Memory of the World Wars. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.Google Scholar
Orbe, Mark P.Constructing Co-Cultural Theory: An Explication of Culture, Power, and Communication. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1998.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ȫzdalga, Elizabeth. “The Hidden Arab: A Critical Reading of the Notion of‘Turkish Islam’.” Middle Eastern Studies 42, no. 4 (2006): 551–570.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pride, Richard A. “How Activists and Media Frame Social Problems: Critical Events versus Performance Trends for Schools.” Political Communication 12, no. 1 (1995): 5–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shils, Edward. “Primordial, Personal, Sacred and Civil Ties: Some Particular Observations on the Relationships of Sociological Research and Theory.” British Journal of Sociology 8, no. 2 (1957): 130–145.Google Scholar
Sluga, Glenda. “Identity, Gender and the History of European Nations and Nationalisms.” Nations and Nationalism 4, no. 1 (1998): 87–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Anthony D. “National Identity and Myths of Ethnic Descent.” In Nationalism: Critical Concepts in Political Science, edited by John, Hutchison and Smith, Anthony D., 1394–1429. New York: Routledge, 2000.Google Scholar
Smith, Anthony D.Nationalism: Theory, Ideology, History. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2001.Google Scholar
Staggenborg, Suzanne. “Critical Events and the Mobilization of the Pro-Choice Movement.” Research in Political Sociology 6 (1993): 319–345.Google Scholar
Jen, Mustafa. “Transformation of Turkish Islamism and the Rise of the Justice and Development Party.” Turkish Studies 11, no. 1 (2010): 59–84.Google Scholar
Tajfel, Henri and Turner, John C. “An Integrative Theory of Intergroup Conflict.” In The Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations, edited by Austin, W.G. and Worchel, S.Brooks-Cole: Monterey, CA, 1979.Google Scholar
Tajkin, Yiiksel. “Upsurge of the Extreme Right in Turkey: The Intra-Right Struggle to Redefine True Nationalism and Islam.” Middle Eastern Studies 44, no. 1 (2008): 131–149.Google Scholar
Taylor, Charles. “Nationalism and Modernity.” In The state of the nation: Ernest Cellner and the theory of nationalism, edited by Hall, John A., 191–218. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tibi, Bassam. “The Renewed Role of Islam in the Political and Social Development of the Middle East.” Middle East Journal 37, no. 1 (1983): 3–13.Google Scholar
Toprak, Binnaz. “Religion as State Ideology in a Secular Setting: The Turkish-Islamic Synthesis.” In Aspects of Religion in Secular Turkey, ed. Malcolm, Wagstaff, 10–15. The University of Durham Occasional Paper Series, no. 40,1990.Google Scholar
Trevor-Roper, Hugh. “The Invention of Tradition: The Highlander Tradition of Scotland.” In The Invention of Tradition, edited by Eric, Hobsbawm and Terence, Ranger, 15–42. Cambridge, 1983.Google Scholar
Walther, Joseph B. “Computer-Mediated Communication: Impersonal, Interpersonal, and Hyperpersonal Interaction.” Communication Research 23, no. 1 (1996): 3–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webster, Leonard and Patricie, Mertova. Using Narrative Inquiry as a Research Method: An Introduction to Using Critical Event Narrative Analysis in Research on Learning and Teaching. New York: Routledge, 2007.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, Fiona. “Racism and the Discipline of Social Policy: A Critique of Welfare Theory.” Critical Social Policy 7, no. 20 (1987): 4–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, Scott. “Israel Says Free Gaza Movement Poses Threat to Jewish State; Aid Flotilla Was Run by Member Charity with Alleged Ties to Islamists.” Washington Post, June 1, 2010.Google Scholar
Wolcott, Harry F.Transforming Qualitative Data: Description, Analysis, and Interpretation. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1994.Google Scholar
Woods, Peter. Critical Events in Teaching and Learning. Washington D.C.: Falmer Press, 1993.Google Scholar
Yavuz, M. Hakan and Nihat, Ali Ȫzcan. “The Kurdish Question and Turkey’s Justice and Development Party.” Middle East Policy 13, no. 1 (2006).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yuval-Davies, Nira. “Women Ethnicity and Empowerment.” Feminism and Psychology 4, no. 1 (1994): 179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yuval-Davies, Nira and Floya, Anthias. Woman-Nation-State. London: Macmillan, 1989.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zelizer, Barbie. Covering the Body: The Kennedy Assassination, the Media, and the Shaping of Collective Memory. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992.Google Scholar
Zubaida, Sami. “Islam and Nationalism: Continuities and Contradictions.” Nations and Nationalism 10, no. 4 (2004): 407–420.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zubaida, Sami. “Turkish Islam and National Identity.” Middle East Report, no. 199 (1996): 10–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar