TURKISHNESS AND US/CAPITALISM ‘HOSTILITY’ WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF CARL SCHMITT’S IDEA OF ‘HOSTILITY’

Abstract

In the USA in 2017, a law named “Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act” was
enacted. The law is also known as CAATSA for short. The law entered into force on 02.08.2017
with the signature of Trump, who was the president of the United States at the time. The United
States has included Turkey in the scope of this law in 2020. Thus, Turkey became the ‘Official
Enemy’ of the United States ‘by force of law.’ The main problem here is the following: If the
United States had not made its hostility to Turkey/Turkishness so clear by law, wouldn’t it have
been considered that there was hostility between the two? In other words, is there a more
fundamental and structural hostility between Turkey/Turkishness and the United States, or is there
not? The main thesis of this study is that there is an indestructible hostility between Turkishness and
the United States and in a related way, capitalism. This hostility exist, whether it is explicitly
recorded by any law or not. Hostility between Turkishness and the United States is an existential
hostility in the sense that C. Schmitt conceptualized it.
The aim of this review is to analyze Turkishness and capitalism/the United States in terms of
Schmittyen hostility between them. The review is in a political context. From the point of view of
the method, a qualitative approach was adopted, not quantitative, and documentary research was
conducted. As a result, it was thought that findings would emerge that would make it possible to
look at the relevant issues more inclusive and analytical.