Evoking emotions: Turkish narratives of Greece as 'Neighbor' and 'Spoiled'

Abstract

This article employs social representation theory and narrative analysis to deconstruct the publicly available speeches of Recep Tayyip Erdo & gbreve;an and Mevl & uuml;t & Ccedil;avu & scedil;o & gbreve;lu between 2014 and 2023. It explores how they strategically utilize positive connotations of 'neighbor' and the negative connotations of 'spoiled' to legitimize their policies toward Greece. This study also analyzes the dual forces of narratives and emotions in shaping foreign policy discourse. The findings reveal the pivotal role of emotions in reconstructing and reinforcing existing social representations of Greece in Turkish foreign policy narratives.