Description
Turkey's rise as an "emerging drone power" fueled discussions among policymakers and the media alike. Drones shifted away from the military to the civilian domain and from international space to domestic space. This paper explores how civilian drone development and deployment, which digitize domestic airspace, contribute to the formation of political and social imaginaries surrounding drone technology in Turkey. This study examines the nexus and power dynamics between technology, state, and society by utilizing the concept of “sociotechnical imaginaries” developed by Jasanoff and Kim (2015). This research is based on over one year of fieldwork, including around 60 semi-structured in-depth interviews, participant observation, and one focus group interview. The interview groups include drone users, drone industry groups, legislators, aviation lawyers, aviation engineers, researchers, senior police officers, and high-rank civil aviation public servants. Also, Turkey’s aspiration for drone technology vis-à-vis the West is illustrated by examining political narratives around drones from the late 1980s until now. Thus, it sheds light on socio-political imaginaries and practices around drone technology in relation to policy-making processes.
