Constructing Security Through Media: Türkiye’s Discursive Engagement with Regional Crises

This study examines Türkiye’s security discourse, developed amid regional crises over the past decade, by moving beyond frameworks that focus exclusively on strategic interests. The author demonstrates how security has increasingly become a practice constructed, disseminated, and legitimized through media channels. He introduces the concept of “mediatized securitization” by integrating the securitization approach with the literature on mediatization, and conducts a comparative analysis of Türkiye’s security discourse about the Syrian civil war, the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, and the Gaza crisis, evaluating official statements, media representations, as well as visual digital content. The study’s main finding is that while Türkiye’s security discourse differs according to the type of crisis, this differentiation occurs through a common media logic. The author argues that security is constructed not only through threat perception but also normative legitimacy and moral frameworks. The study thus offers an original communication-based contribution to security studies.