https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6116-9905
![Sample our Area Studies journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5922/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Area-Studies.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
This article aims to explain how the media reproduced populist themes during the campaign for the constitutional referendum in 2017 by examining columns in pro-government newspapers and conducting a content analysis. The findings demonstrate that ‘the people’ were seen as the most significant opposition to the establishment. The ‘us–them’ distinction was mostly used, which was promoted by othering, emphasizing the moral superiority and victimization of the in-group and humiliating out-groups. The study argues that populist discourse is successful in making group differentiations and that pro-AKP elements in the media helped the government gain consent for its campaign for a ‘new Turkey.’
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Note on contributors
Tuğçe Erçetin is currently working as a part-time lecturer and a post-doctoral researcher at Istanbul Bilgi University's Center for Migration Research. She holds a PhD from Istanbul Bilgi University and masters’ degrees from the University of Essex and Istanbul Bilgi University. She has worked on numerous research projects on topics such as othering, volunteerism, Syrian refugees and social entrepreneurship, and populism.
Emre Erdoğan is a Professor of Political Science at Istanbul Bilgi University, where he also serves as head of the department. He holds a PhD from Boğaziçi University. He has been working in the public opinion and marketing research sector since 1996 and became one of the founders of Infakto RW (2003). He is expert on quantitative techniques, sampling, and political methodology and the author of numerous papers about foreign policy and public opinion, political participation, migration, populism, volunteerism, and social capital. He has also conducted various research projects on Europeanization and European perceptions of Turkey, othering and empathy, polarization, populism, immigration, and seasonal agricultural workers.
Notes
1 The speech of President Erdogan, January 12, 2017, available at https://www.tccb.gov.tr/konusmalar/353/70910/34-muhtarlar-toplantisinda-yaptiklari-konusma.html.
2 Huntington, “The Clash of Civilizations?” 42.
3 Öniş, “Monopolizing the Center.”
4 Esen and Gümüşçü, “Rising Competitive Authoritarianism.”
5 Somer, “Understanding.”
7 Nasr, “The Rise of Muslim Democracy,” and Dagi, “Turkey's AKP.”
8 Moghaddam, Diktatörlüğün Psikolojisi.
9 Iyengar, Is Anyone Responsible?; Strömback, “Four Phases of Mediatization”; and Moffit, “Transnational Populism?”
10 Akkerman, Mudde, and Zaslove, “How Populist Are the People?”.
11 Harré and Moghaddam, Self and Other, and Pareschi and Albertini, “Immigration, Elites and the EU.”
12 Moffitt, “How to Perform Crisis.”
13 Spruyt, Keppens, and Droogenbroeck, “Who Supports Populism.”
14 Panizza, Populism and Mirror Democracy, and Wodak, KhosraviNik, and Mral, Right-Wing Populism in Europe.
15 Gidron and Bonikowski, “Varieties of Populism,” 1.
16 Mudde, “The Populist Zeitgeist,” 543.
17 Stanley, “The Thin Ideology of Populism”: Mudde and Kaltwasser, “Voices of the Peoples”; Rooduijn and Pauwels, “Measuring Populism,” 1273; and Bakker, Rooduijn, and Schumacher, “The Psychological Roots,” 4.
18 Taguieff, “Political Science Confronts Populism”; De la Torre, Populist Seduction in Latin America; Hawkins, “Populism in Venezuela”; Hawkins, “Is Chavez Populist?”; Laclau, On Populist Reason; Caiani and della Porta, “Extreme Right-Wing and Populism”; Aslanidis, “Is Populism an Ideology?”; and Moffitt, The Global Rise of Populism.
19 Jagers and Walgrave, “Populism as a Political Communication Style,” 323.
20 Di Tella, “Populism into the Twenty-first Century”; Weyland, “Clarifying a Contested Concept”; Enyedi, “The Role of Agency”; and Barr, “Populists, Outsiders and Anti-establishment Politics.”
21 Rooduijn, Lange, and Brug, “A Populist Zeitgeist?” 564.
22 Taggart, “Populism and the Pathology”; Taggart, “Populism and Representative Politics”; and Arzheimer, “The AFD,” 537.
23 Müller, What is Populism?
24 Bauman, Sosyolojik Düşünmek, 52–72.
25 Canovan, “Taking Politics to the People,” 22.
26 Lozada, “Us or Them?”; Vasilopoulou, Halikiopoulou, and Exadaktylos, “Greece in Crisis”; and Rico, Guinjoan, and Anduiza, “The Emotional Underpinnings.”
27 Mazzoleni and Schulz, “Mediatization of Politics”; McNair, An Introduction to Political Communication; Moffitt, The Global Rise of Populism, Chapter 5; and Herkman, “The Finns Party,” 3.
28 Philip Howard, “Hungary's Crackdown on the Press,” The New York Times, September 8, 2014.
29 Waisbord, “Democracy,” 6, and Carroll, Comandante, 42.
30 Waisbord, “Between Support,” 100–10, and Herkman, “The Finns Party.”
31 Bos and Brants, “Populist Rhetoric,” 707.
32 See note 31 and 32 above.
33 Sunstein, #Republic.
34 Panayırcı, İşeri, and Şekercioğlu, “Political Agency,” 2–3.
35 Bulut and Karlıdağ, “The Effect of Media Polarization.” They argue that social democratic and secular wings are represented by Cumhuriyet; Akşam presents conservative values, Milliyet covers the liberal and secular views, both Star and Sabah represent the right-wing, and lastly, radical Islamism is linked with Akit. On the other hand, they also emphasize that a new camp has emerged (including Sabah, Star, Akşam, Akit, Yeni Şafak, and Milliyet), which echos the opinions of the ruling party.
36 Yılmaz, “Europeanization or De-Europeanization?” 150.
37 “TMSF, Sabah’a el koydu,” Milliyet, April 2, 2007.
38 Kaya and Çakmur, “Politics and the Mass Media,” 532.
40 See details from CNNTurk report of May 21, 2017, available at https://www.cnnturk.com/turkiye/ak-parti-mkykda-dikkat-ceken-isimler.
41 Rooduijn and Pauwels, “Measuring Populism.”
42 Aslanidis, “Measuring Populist Discourse.”
43 Yaşar Hacısalihooğlu, “15 Temmuz’a ‘Kontrollü Darbe’ Demenin Anlamı,” Akşam, April 8, 2017.
44 Hilal Kaplan, “248 Kez Evet,” Sabah Newspaper, April 14, 2017.
45 Yaşar Hacısalihoğlu, “15 Temmuz Direnişinden, 16 Nisan Dirilişine; Türkiye Sevdalılarının Yolu Açık Olsun,” Akşam, April 15, 2017.
46 Emin Pazarcı, “’Hayır’cı Cephe Kimliği,” Akşam, March 5, 2017.
47 Hilal Kaplan, “Allah'tan Korkun,” Sabah, February 14, 2017.
48 Emin Pazarcı, “’Hayır’ın Şer İttifakı,” Akşam, April 13, 2017.
49 Sibel Eraslan, “Türkiye’nin Bekası İçin Endişe Duyuyor mu CHP?” Star, February 15, 2017.
50 Hilal Kaplan, “Allah'tan Korkun.” Sabah, February 14, 2017.
51 Mehmet Barlas, “Bunlar Yeni Türkiye Gerçeğini Hazmedemiyor,” Sabah, March 13, 2017.
52 Emin Pazarcı, “En İyi Türk, Ölü Türk,” Akşam, March 9, 2017.
53 Sibel Eraslan, “Batı ile Hesaplaşmak … Ama Nasıl?” Star, March 29, 2017.
54 Murat Kelkitlioğlu, “’Hayır’ Cephesine Soruyorum! PKK Bitsin İstemiyor Musunuz?” Akşam, February 21, 2017.
55 Melih Altınok, “Almanya’nın ‘Hayır’ından Türkiye’ye Hayır mı Gelir?” Sabah, March 5, 2017.
56 Şeref Oğuz, “2035'te İlk 9’da Olmanın Kararı,” Sabah, April 1, 2017.
57 Mehmet Barlas, “Geleceğe Uzanan Yolculuğun Başlangıç Günü 16 Nisan Olacak,” Sabah, March 8, 2017.
58 Ardan Zentürk, “Bu Savaş 10 Yıl Daha Sürecek … Birleşin ve Direnin!” Star, March 30, 2017.
59 Yaşar Hacısalihooğlu, “15 Temmuz’a ‘Kontrollü Darbe’ Demenin Anlamı,” Akşam, April 8, 2017.
60 Sibel Eraslan, “Büyük Medeniyet Savaşı,” Star, April 9, 2017.
61 Hümeyra Şahin, “Kabe’de Selfie,” Akşam, March 21, 2017.
62 Halime Kökçe, “15 Temmuz’da ‘Hayır’ Diyenler Yarın ‘Evet’ Diyecek,” Star, April 15, 2017.
63 Halime Kökçe, “28 Şubat ve Unutamadıklarım,” Star, March 1, 2017.
64 Hümeyra Şahin, “28 Şubat’ın Tarih ve Kültür Kıyımı” Akşam, February 28, 2017.
65 Ardan Zentürk, “’Doğan Grubu Bu Kadar Önemli mi?” Star, February 16, 2017.
66 Halime Kökçe, “28 Şubat ve Unutamadıklarım,” Star, March 1, 2017.
67 Murat Kelkitlioğlu, “Kararsızlar! Oyunu Görmüyor musunuz?” Akşam, March 7, 2017.
68 Melih Altınok, “Ne Uzun Kıştı Ama Değil mi?” Sabah, April 3, 2017.
69 Ardan Zentürk, “Sözüm MHP’lilere … Liderinize Sahip Çıkın.” Haber7.com, March 27, 2017.
70 Yaşar Hacısalihoğlu, “16 Nisan; Türkiye Sevdalılarının Yemini,” Akşam, March 18, 2017.
71 Hilal Kaplan, “Allah'tan Korkun.” Sabah, February 14, 2017.
72 Şeref Oğuz, “Parlamenter Görünümlü Vesayet Sistemi,” Sabah, February 21, 2017.
73 Mehmet Barlas, “Nefes Nefese Geçen Yılların Ardından Nefes Almak İhtiyacı,” Sabah, March 6, 2017.
74 Ahmet Taşgetiren, “Zor Sürecin Yönetimi,” Star, March 5, 2017.
75 Mehmet Barlas, “Yeter ki Biz Kendimizle Kavga Etmeye Başlamayalım,” Sabah, March 14, 2017.
76 Mehmet Barlas, “Gülen Örgütü Yeni Bir Yapılanma İçinde mi?” Sabah, February 7, 2017.
77 Ardan Zentürk, “Emperyalizme Karşı Ortak Cephe..” Star, April 3, 2017.
78 Emin Pazarcı, “‘Yuh’ Dedirten Ahlaksızlık,” Akşam, March 23, 2017.
79 Ibid.
80 Sibel Eraslan, “Batı ile Hesaplaşmak Ama Nasıl?” Star, March 29, 2017.