Performing nationalist populism in Turkey: an exploration of anti-Western, anti-elite and Muslim conservative undercurrents

ABSTRACT

The growing body of research on populism has recently turned its attention towards global populisms, populist leaders and their political communication strategies. This article introduces a non-western perspective to the literature which has generally been dominated by European, Latin American and more recently North American contexts. The article analyses nationalist populism in Turkey as performed by Recep Tayyip Erdogan – the country’s ruling leader for the past eighteen years. Through a discussion of Erdogan’s mediated public performances and encounters with ‘the people,’ the article reveals the ideological components and manifestations of right-wing nationalist populism in a Muslim-majority country. Focusing on how and why Erdogan and his associates portray themselves as the true representatives of ‘the people’ and ‘the nation,’ the article argues that the articulations of anti-elitism and nativism in the Turkish context are primarily driven by anti-western and Islamist sentiments.

KEYWORDS:

• Nationalist populism
• right-wing nationalism
• anti-westernism
• political communication
• Turkey
• Erdogan

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. For a discussion of the relationship between celebrity politicians and populism, see Zeglen and Ewen’s Introduction in this volume.

2. There is a nascent literature on Middle Eastern and North African populisms, yet these works are generally concerned with political economic dynamics and do not necessarily explore the relationships between populist politics and mass media. See, for example Colas (2004), , Ansari (2005), Salehi-Isfahani (2009). A notable exception that examines non-western populisms and mediatisation is the International Journal of Communication special issue titled ‘Mediatized Populisms: Inter-Asian Lineages.’ See Chakravartty and Roy (2017).

3. Data has been collated by the author from the Presidential website. The forty-eighth mukhtar meeting was held in November 2018.

4. In doing so, Erdogan and his communications consultants are undoubtedly trying to deflect the critical media coverage of the 1,000-room palace that cost more than 600 million USD to build.

5. The preoccupation with the Turkish flag was also evident in an AKP election campaign commercial in 2014. The three-minute long commercial begins with a black-clad man bringing down the Turkish flag off a giant pole by cutting the ropes. As the flag falls in slow motion, Erdogan is heard reciting the Turkish national anthem. He galvanises thousands of Turks from all walks of life to rush to the pole, build a human tower and re-erect it. The commercial ends with the AKP election slogan, ‘The nation will not bow down; Turkey will not be defeated.’

6. For a detailed discussion of ‘white and black Turks,’ see Yavuz (2000), Bilici (2009) and Demiralp (2012).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bilge Yesil

Bilge Yesil is an Associate Professor of Media Culture at the College of Staten Island and Doctoral Faculty of Middle Eastern Studies at The Graduate Center, City University of New York. Yesil’s research interest is in global media and communication with a particular focus on Turkey and the Middle East, global internet policies, online surveillance and censorship. She is the author of Media in New Turkey: The Origins of an Authoritarian Neoliberal State (University of Illinois Press, 2016)