Turkey and Russia in the twenty-first century: ‘ontological anchoring’ to former imperial identity
Stavros Drakoularakos
Adjunct Lecturer at the Department of Governance and Politics, University of Nicosia, Cyprus and Editor-in-Chief at the Centre for Mediterranean, Middle East and Islamic Studies
This paper uses Ontological Security Theory (OST) to showcase the clout that former empires hold on a successor state’s national memory. The concept of ‘ontological anchoring’ is introduced to underline the instrumentalisation of the ‘glorious imperial past’ for state survival priorities and identity continuity. Current Turkish and Russian presidencies echo the history and longevity of the Ottoman and Russian empires to recalibrate their autobiographical state narratives, establish societal cohesion and strengthen dominion over domestic dissident voices. Although prominence is attributed to imperial history, the twentieth century state identity tenets of both countries are not dismissed. Instead, the different identities of the self are recalibrated, engineering an autobiographical narrative selectively borrowing both from the distant and not so distant past. Both successor states place emphasis on ‘othering’ narratives related to the return to religious and ethical conservatism against western-based values deemed as incompatible to needs of Russian and Turkish societies. Hence, through the OST lens, the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the gradual halting of the Turkish European accession talks are identified as the dislocatory events which eventually led to the recalibration of Turkish and Russian autobiographical identity narratives through ‘ontological anchoring’ to their imperial past to ensure state survival.
Keywords: Turkey; Russia; Ontological Security Theory; State Identities; Imperial Past
