French and Turkish Representations of the Mediterranean: Artificial Intelligence Based Content Analysis

Abstract

This paper argues that the Mediterranean imaginations of France and Turkey have served as a barometer for analyzing the level of their bilateral relations. Turkey and France have been among the region’s prominent rivals since the Middle Ages, and their level of relationship has varied over time. This article investigates key patterns that shape the direction of Turkish-French relations and presents a fundamental factor: The spatial representation of the Mediterranean. If the Mediterranean images developed by the two countries are adverse/unfavorable/conflictual, the relationship in a given era deteriorates and vice versa. This study aims to situate the contemporary Turkish and French representations of the Mediterranean through a Critical Geopolitics, and Artificial Intelligence based Content Analysis method. This paper first deals with the theoretical and methodological aspects by focusing on Critical Geopolitics and “word embedding” as a promising technique in content analysis. Second, the historical dynamics between France and Turkey will be discussed by examining the shift in the two countries’ representations of the Mediterranean. Finally, this study will shed light on how the Mediterranean representations of Turkey and France in the recent period affect contemporary bilateral relations in line with the empirical findings obtained from Agence France-Presse and Anadolu Agency

Spatial Imaginations of “Turkey” and “Europe”: An Introduction

“…42 Scholars interested in regional identity formation thought about the construction of regional spaces such as the Mediterranean, 43 often drawing on long historical processes following Braudel's notion of the "longue durée", an argument taken up by Savaş and Yılmaz in their analysis of French and Turkish spatial imaginations of the Mediterranean. 44 Indeed, many have considered the construction of "new spaces" within and beyond a state-centred international society. 45 Meanwhile, the core-periphery analyses of many world systems and dependency approaches had been interested in the construction of spaces since the 1970s.…”