"Local and national": the rise of populism and foreign policy as a two-dimensional process in Turkey

During the rise of populism with the second AKP government, populism merged with nationalism and authoritarianism - which also brought an end to the peace process that was set to bring a democratic solution to the long-standing problems of the Kurdish population. As the tone of nationalism increased, the well-known “us versus them” rhetoric of populist politics gave birth to a new term that sharpened the boundaries of the people: yerli ve milli, “local and national”. While yerli, local, refers to being independent from any malign foreign power; milli, national, sets the boundaries of the people by implying that not everyone in Turkey is a part of the nation. Consequently, “local and national” is used as an adjective to describe someone or something that has no international connections - a part of the nation (people). Political rivals of the government and outspoken critics are frequently blamed for not being “local and national”. The term simultaneously symbolizes the alienation of Turkey from the international community and discrimination against minorities. This two-dimensional populism creates a feedback loop. Distancing itself from the international community enabled authoritarianism and human rights violations in Turkey; while rising authoritarianism and human rights violations alienated Turkey from the international community. Using a process-tracing method this chapter will analyze this two-dimensional populism process in Turkey. It will explore the international relations of who were included within the boundaries of people and how the boundaries shifted over time.