ONTOLOGICAL SECURITY AND IDENTITY: THE COLLECTIVE SELF ROLE OF THE ORGANIZATION OF TURKIC STATES

This article explores how the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) serves as a collective ontological security mechanism for post-Soviet Turkic republics. Building upon Giddens’s ontological security theory, Mitzen’s state-level perspective, and Steele’s moral-narrative framework, the study positions the OTS as a regional institution mitigating existential anxieties through shared narratives of identity, continuity, and strategic unity. Applying Critical Discourse Analysis and securitization theory, it investigates summit declarations and presidential discourses from 2021 to 2025. The analysis reveals a shift from cultural and historical references to securitized and strategic narratives, signaling the OTS’s transformation into a civilizational regional actor that anchors identity within power dynamics. The study concludes that ontological security is maintained through narrative consistency, enabling member states to assert a shared sense of selfhood.