As constructivists often express, like identities, states’ perceptions of threat and interest too are open for change (Wendt 1999, Nau 2002, Hopf 2002). Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which was once considered to be one of the top threats against Turkey’s national unity, is now an important partner for Ankara both economically and strategically. But how could the Justice and Development Party (JDP) government change Turkey’s years-long threat perception towards the Iraqi Kurds? Which internal and external dynamics made the JDP to consider the Iraqi Kurdish leaders as one of Turkey’s strongest allies and stop calling them a “couple of tribal leaders” in a humiliating way? And how could Ankara replace Turkey’s traditional “security- oriented” foreign policy approach with a more liberal one, aiming to redefine Turkey’s security threats and decrease the number of the so-called “enemies”?
This paper aims to find reasonable answers to all these questions through an in-depth analysis of “perceptions” that are strong enough to shape both the individual and the state practices. Relying on the idea that the perceptions are closely linked to the identities, the paper claims that Turkey’s rapprochement with the Iraqi Kurds has actually required a certain level of change in its definition of the “national identity”. The JDP government’s recent attempt to change the constitution through the removal of the “ethnic-based citizenship” (namely “being Turkish”) into a constitutional one that does not favor any single ethnic group points out that quest. This goes hand in hand with government’s current effort to negotiate with the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) and thus solve the Kurdish problem. Whether it is called Northern Iraq or the Iraqi Kurdistan, Turkey’s fluctuating relationship with the Iraqi Kurdish political establishment is an interesting issue to discuss the political psychology of the Turkish politics.
