This paper will scrutinize the response of Turkey to COVID-19 pandemic from an ontological security perspective to demonstrate how critical junctures may serve to the identity needs of its political elites. Highlighting the role of pandemic in the construction of political narratives, it aims to shed light on the potential implications of the crisis in shaping domestic power struggles as well as Turkish foreign policy choices. The analysis revealed that both ruling and opposition parties in Turkey are instrumentalizing nationalist narratives with an emphasis on protection and self-reliance, and are engaged in political opportunism during the outbreak. It also demonstrated how the pandemic facilitated the restoration of Turkey's ontological security in international arena while fostering nationalism and securing the "savior and protector" identity of its ruling elites. Nevertheless, the paper concludes that post-pandemic Turkish politics will be shaped by growing tension between religious and secular understandings of nationalism as well as frictions with allies and neighbors over the disputes in the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Thus, it can be suggested that enhanced ontological security of the country could be short lived.

This paper will explore Turkish Cypriot identity in a historical setting and scrutinize the scope of identity contestations within the community in the context of growing affiliation with the European Union. Highlighting the effects of significant issues such as immigration, demographic change, political uncertainty, isolation and economic transformation, it aims to reveal how different notions of identity shapes the preferences of diverse actors in Cyprus by determining available and legitimate policy options in peace negotiations. Particular attention is paid to the post-Annan Plan period and how consecutive failures in negotiations and enduring political limbo leads to new understandings of identity and the emergence of new political parties and movements with alternative preferences concerning the Cyprus Dispute. The paper will conclude that as long as uncertainty continues on the island, the debates over identity and the tension between ethnic and civic understandings of it will remain high and will continue to shape Turkish Cypriot politics.

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This article will examine the response of the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) to the COVID-19 pandemic from an ontological security approach to illustrate how critical junctures may help de facto states in their quest for status and internal legitimacy. Stressing the pandemic’s role in the reconstruction of political narratives and self-legitimating practices among Turkish Cypriot elites, it sheds light on the effects of this global crisis on domestic power struggles in Northern Cyprus as well as its quasi-foreign relations with its patron state (Turkey), parent state (Republic of Cyprus), and the European Union. The study shows that both nationalist and federalist elites of the de facto entity instrumentalized the pandemic in their legitimation strategies and engaged in opportunistic behavior amid the outbreak. It also reveals how the pandemic enhanced the ontological security of Northern Cyprus while advancing its nationalist leadership’s claims for legitimate authority by enabling state-specific forms of agency and unilateral acts concerning the Cyprus dispute that may jeopardize the resumption of peace talks with Greek Cypriots. Thus, it can be assumed that advanced ontological security of the TRNC is highly volatile given the prospects of further isolation and de-engagement in the post-pandemic era.