We are not barbarians

Turkey's policy-makers have historically aimed to position Turkey within the West by convincing the latter that Turkey meets the 'standards' of the West, that they 'are not barbarians'. This article aims to offer a gender analysis of Turkey's relations with the West by showing how 'devalorization' as feminization and hypermasculinization of the non-West becomes a source of insecurity for non-Western policy-makers. This gendered ontological insecurity is intensified when they face a military threat from a third party. The argument is that Turkey's policy-makers try to benefit from military crises in order to represent Turkey as a state meeting Western 'standards' of masculinity, and therefore to address its gendered 'devalorization'. The analysis aims to contribute to the literatures of postcolonial feminism and non-Western insecurities

Argument (complex analysis) · Face (sociological concept) · Feminism · Feminization (sociology) · Gender analysis · International relations · Masculinity · Order (exchange) · Political science · Politics · Position (finance) · Social science · Sociology · State (computer science) · Gender Politics and Representation · Gender Studies · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Law · Turkey's Politics and Society

• From Domestic Contestation to Alpha Male Foreign Policy

  Open Access•Veronica Barfucci, Deborah Faudoa Rodríguez et al.•International Studies Quarterly•2026

  Incluir item

• Is Turkey a Western nation? How the Turkish political elite aimed to appeal to the US political elite during the Afghan conflict

  Open Access•Tarik Basbugoglu•Global Discourse•2022

  Incluir item

• The (un)making of the Pax Turca in the Middle East

  Clemens Hoffmann, Can Cemgil•Cambridge Review of International…•2016

  Incluir item

• From Female Masculinity to Hegemonic Femininity

  Rahime Süleymanoğlu‐kürüm, Bahar Rumelili•The Hague Journal of Diplomacy•2022

  Incluir item

• Liminal identity of Turkey in humanitarian government

  Efser Rana Coşkun•Globalizations•2023

  Incluir item

• A retrospective study of patriarchy in Turkish politics

  Open Access•Bezen Balamir Coşkun•Turkish Studies•2023

  Incluir item

• Nationalism in Turkey under Justice and Development Party Rule

  Open Access•Rasim Özgür Dönmez•Turkish Studies•2015

  Incluir item

• Gendered dimensions of ontological (in)security

  Berfin Çakın•Asian Journal of Women s Studies•2025

  Incluir item

• A Feminist Reading of Turkish Foreign Policy and the S-400 Crisis

  Open Access•C Akça Ataç•Alternatives Global Local Political•2021

  Incluir item

• Desires, Fantasies and Hierarchies

  Open Access•Ali Bilgic, Jordan Pilcher•Alternatives Global Local Political•2022

  Incluir item

• This is not who we are’

  Open Access•Christine Agius•Review of International Studies•2022

  Incluir item

• Making feminist and post-colonial sense of ontological (in)security

  Ipek Bahar Karaman-Yilmazgil•Critical Studies on Security•2025

  Incluir item

• Masculinist Practices and Gender Politics

  Charlotte Hooper•Man Question in International…•2019

  Incluir item

• Colonial Fantasies

  Open Access•Meyda Yeĝenoĝlu•Colonial Fantasies•1998

  Incluir item

• End of Empire

  Open Access•Deniz Kandiyoti•Women, Islam and the State•1991

  Incluir item

• The Eastern Origins of Western Civilisation

  Open Access•Joanna M Hobson, John M Hobson•Eastern Origins of Western…•2004

  Incluir item

• The intimate enemy

  George Robert Bach, Peter Wyden•The intimate enemy•1970

  Incluir item

• A Western Invention of Arab Womanhood

  Open Access•Malika Mehdid•Women in the Middle East•1993

  Incluir item

• Colonial Desire

  Patrick Brantlinger, Robert J C Young•The American Historical Review•1996

  Incluir item

• Turkey and EU/rope

  Open Access•Pinar Bilgin, Ali Bilgic•Review of European Studies•2012

  Incluir item

• Gender, orientalism and representations of the ‘Other’ in the War on Terror

  Maryam Khalid•Global Change Peace & Security•2011

  Incluir item

• Making Anew an Arab Regional Order? On Poetry, Sex, and Revolution

  Anna M Agathangelou•Globalizations•2011

  Incluir item

• Foreign Policy Orientation of Turkey’s Pro‐Islamist Parties

  Open Access•Hasret Dikici Bilgin•Turkish Studies•2008

  Incluir item

• Hypermasculinity on the Rise, Again

  L H M Ling•International Feminist Journal of…•2000

  Incluir item

• Gendered practices in institutions of hegemonic masculinity

  Annica Kronsell•International Feminist Journal of…•2005

  Incluir item

• Greek-Turkish Relations and the European Union

  Ziya Öniş, Zіya Önіş•Mediterranean Politics•2001

  Incluir item

• Blessing in disguise? The Imia crisis and Turkish‐Greek relations

  Ekavi Athanassopoulou•Mediterranean Politics•1997

  Incluir item

• From Distant Neighbors to Partners? Changing Syrian-Turkish Relations

  Open Access•Meliha Altunisik, Meliha Benli Altunışık et al.•Security Dialogue•2006

  Incluir item

• Constructing identity and relating to difference

  Open Access•Bahar Rumelili•Review of International Studies•2004

  Incluir item

• Postcolonial (in)securities, the bjp and the politics of Hindutva

  Runa Das•Third World Quarterly•2003

  Incluir item

• The European Union and Turkey

  Barry Buzan, Thomas Diez•Survival•1999

  Incluir item

• Geopolitics and the Post-Colonial

  Open Access•Consuelo Cruz•Political Science Quarterly•2005

  Incluir item

• The strategic depth doctrine of Turkish foreign policy

  Alexander Murinson•Middle Eastern Studies•2006

  Incluir item

• The external constitution of European identity

  Open Access•Viacheslav Morozov, Viatcheslav Morozov et al.•Cooperation and Conflict•2012

  Incluir item

• The Intimate Enemy

  Francis G Hutchins, Ashis Nandy•The American Historical Review•1985

  Incluir item

• Power, Borders, Security, Wealth

  Open Access•Anna M Agathangelou, L H M Ling•International Studies Quarterly•2004

  Incluir item

• Authoritarianism in the Hypermasculinized State

  Open Access•Jongwoo Han, L H M Ling•International Studies Quarterly•1998

  Incluir item

• Securing Turkey through western-oriented foreign policy

  Open Access•Pinar Bilgin, Pınar Bilgin•New Perspectives on Turkey•2009

  Incluir item

• The Securityness of Secularism? The Case of Turkey

  Open Access•Pinar Bilgin•Security Dialogue•2008

  Incluir item

• "Constructing Turkish "exceptionalism

  Open Access•Lerna K Yanık•Political Geography•2011

  Incluir item

• The Eastern origins of Western civilisation

  Open Access•Kent G Deng, Kent Deng•The Economic History Review•2004

  Incluir item

• Strategic Depth or Hegemonic Depth? A Critical Realist Analysis of Turkey's Position in the World System

  Open Access•Faruk Yalvaç•International Relations•2012

  Incluir item

• Military Privatization and the Remasculinization of the State

  Open Access•Saskia Stachowitsch•International Relations•2013

  Incluir item