The Politics of the National Pact (Misak-ı Millî): Cartographic Anxiety in Turkish Foreign Policy

Abstract

This article aims to examine the meaning of the historical concept of the National Pact (Misak-ı Millî) in Turkish foreign policy. It argues that although the National Pact is now more than a hundred years old, it has still been widely used and referred to in both domestic and foreign policy. In this regard, it suggests that it has usually formed a legitimizing background for Turkey’s foreign policy stance especially in relation to its boundaries. However, the article also shows that as the document was contentious from the start, with no clearly defined boundaries, it has transformed throughout the century based on the necessities of Turkish foreign policy. This study emphasizes that the politics of the National Pact reflect Turkey’s cartographic anxiety, encompassing both territorial fear and ambition, sometimes experienced simultaneously. While constituting a historical narrative that demonstrates anxiety about borders in Turkish foreign policy, the National Pact also articulates a vision of Turkey’s geo-body, implying that it draws a specific territorial shape as well as creates criteria for the body politic.