Counterterrorism as a boundary-producing practice

Abstract

This article aims to demonstrate how counterterrorism tactics abnormalize particular geographic areas by subjectifying communities as elements of this milieu to regulate and control the movements of ‘terrorists.’ Borrowing from Ashley and Campbell, this aspect of counterterrorism calls for it to be viewed as a ‘boundary-producing’ practice. Through a close examination of the Turkish Grand National Assembly Proceedings Journal, which documents parliamentary debates on the Turkish War on Terror in the 1980s, this article discusses how the Southeastern Anatolia Region, where a significant Kurdish population lives, is abnormalized as an unfriendly, bordering, and uncivilized space. As a result, violent acts and policies of the state, such as cross-border operations, mass deportations, and restrictions on civil liberties in the name of developmentalism, have been institutionalized, redrawing the boundaries between the Region and the rest of the country. © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.