Turkey's Otherness in the Identity Discourses of European Parliament

This study aims to analyze discursive constructions of Turkey's otherness and its relation to European identity in the European Parliament (EP). The social constructivist approach is employed in the study and European identity is proposed as a contested, hybrid and relatively exclusivist concept, which is primarily shaped by the self/other nexus particularly in the enlargement process. The focus of the paper is the identification of hegemonic referential strategies and related metaphors emphasizing the otherness of Turkey, without denying the inclusive discourses in the ER The research data consists of 1999-2012 EP plenary debates. The study's major findings are a) the tendency to present acquired characteristics as the innate differences; b) the majority of exclusive discourses emanate from right-wing MEPs and c) the exclusivist debates peaked during the 2004-09 term, coinciding with the launch of accession negotiations.