ABSTRACT
Introduction “Fear Not!” starts the Turkish national anthem. The anthem was written following World War I after which the country came to the brink of partition by the Allied Powers. Fear was a suitable theme for the anthem considering the magnitude of the threat against the nation. However, fear is a theme that still runs deep in the nation’s psychology. There are both external and internal “enemies” to be afraid of. What is called “Sèvres syndrome,”2 for example, puts a shadow on debates about EU membership by fuelling Euroscepticism and a language of “external powers” (dış mihraklar) constantly working against Turkey. Likewise, “internal enemies” of the state are defined as those who want to disintegrate the country (Kurdish separatists) and those who challenge the state’s secular identity (reactionary Islam).
