Grief-Free Recipes of Aşure: The (Dis)Inclusion of Alevis in Turkey’s Muharrem Commemoration

This study is about how young citizens perceive the authoritarian regime in Turkey. It argues that feelings are overlooked in the debate on authoritarianism and then proposes the concept of ‘perceived regime’ to provide a framework for the intended discussion. To understand the dominant feelings of young people, this study analyses YouTube comments posted under the documentaries of 140Journos, a well-known independent new media content producer. Accordingly, this study defines a feeling structure called ‘collective misery’. Feelings of sadness, despair, hopelessness, anger, resentment and envy are the fundamental building blocks of this structure, and anxiety is the beam. Furthermore, this study posits that the primary manifestation of the authoritarian regime in Turkey is a pervasive and profound ‘anomie-like’ social formation.

Civil society generally defines a sphere where groups of people can act without being forced by any source of power. The citizen is one of the most important dynamics of the civil society in that they form a source of power against the state by demanding their rights in the public realm. Citizenship, which is the verbalism of political belonging to the state, is not limited to a legal status in which the individual has a series of specific rights and duties. It is also an expression of the individual’s articulation to society and the relationship that they build in the political-social sphere. The media, which should be a democratic institution by essence, is closely related to the civil society. In this day and age most of the political struggle takes place on media. Therefore, the political power always uses the media as an ideological tool. Referendums, on the other hand, are an important constituent in pluralistic democracy. Referendums reflect the political preferences of social groups equally, although in a relative sense. Thus, all different groups can influence the government mechanisms in line with their demands and needs. The role that the media undertakes during the time of referendum, a democratic right for all citizens, is very significant because it is via the media that the information related to the laws or amendments which are put to vote. That is why the analysis and interpretation of media texts that undertake a crucial role in times of referendum is very important. In this context, making a comparative analysis of the selected Turkish media (Cumhuriyet, Hürriyet, Tercüman/Bugün) coverage of 1982 constitutional referendum rallies and 2012 constitutional amendment package referendum rallies, and interpreting them within the framework of civil society discussions makes up the problem of this study. Determining the attitude of Turkish press and whether they had a political bias in 1982 constitutional referendum rallies and 2012 constitutional amendment package referendum rallies forms the purpose of the study. In the study content analysis method has been used. Quantitative distribution and rates of the newspapers’ front-page news content and photographs relating with 1982 constitutional referendum and 2012 constitutional amendment package referendum rallies have been determined and compared/contrasted. Besides, the data gathered from the aforementioned newspapers’ attitude towards the referendum rallies and thematic analyses of discourses in news texts have been compared/contrasted. One month before 7th October 1982 constitutional referendum and 12th September 2010 constitutional amendment package referendum marks the time limit of the study. Another limitation is regarding the newspapers chosen to represent the Turkish press. Based on their ideological attitudes; Cumhuriyet is chosen to represent national left (Kemalist, statist, secular), Hürriyet to represent liberal and Tercüman/Bugün to represent nationalistic conservative ideology. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n9p780

Drawing on the approach suggesting that the analysis of social media in relation to democracy should be provided within its own social context, we outline the social media activities adopted by the ruling populist political party in Turkey, namely, the Justice and Development Party (AKP), aimed at reinforcing its political ideology. We also unpack the ‘political online trolling’ as a manifestation of online practices driving the post-truth politics in Turkey. Following the Gezi protests, when social media and, in particular, Twitter gained trust and popularity as a news source due to severe censorship and polarization in the traditional mass media, the AKP adopted an aggressive strategy to attack and destroy all opposition as well as to manipulate public opinion through their political trolling activities. Employing the approach of digital ethnography and drawing on the archive of mass media outputs about the trolling events, we discuss how the ruling party has adopted online political trolling as a strategy, one that is deeply embedded in the political system, politicians and mainstream media. We also explain how trolling practices are facilitated by the coordinated work of these institutions to silence all critical opposing voices, in particular journalists and how they stifle public debate that is grounded in truth and evidence. We have also concluded that the chilling effects of political trolling lead to quitting social media, self-censorship and less participation in public debate of unprotected citizens who are the most vulnerable targets for the trolls. The trolls have targeted the dissent voices not only for criticizing the government publicly, but also to brand them as terrorists and traitors through increasingly polarizing and discriminating language based on nationalist and religious perspectives, which peaked in the aftermath of the 15 July coup attempt and the debates on the presidential regime. Far from condemnation of the trolling activities along with their polarizing and hateful rhetoric, the mainstream culture and public discourse seem to have been taken over by an increasing trolling subculture, which inhibits public debate, discredits the sources of truth, fosters fanaticism and encourages a hate discourse and violence, all of which are undermining democracy.

This chapter addresses the different roles played by the mass media in its relationship with policymaking within the Turkish case, including agenda-setting, framing and the panoptical reflected by public policy. Based on Pierre Bourdieu's field theory, this chapter demonstrates that media as a semi-autonomous field can reflect and refract public policy with respect to varying conditions and argues in particular that this role depends on the level of consolidation of the governmental power, the ideological positioning of the media outlet, and the issue area under discussion. Methodologically, a template is established for a media content analysis of the Turkish media and its role in policymaking. This template has been implemented by collecting data across five different Turkish newspapers between 1995-2013 as a framework for future studies and the analysis confirms the expectations.

This study investigates the deepening editorial schism between domestic (Anadolu Agency, TRT) and international (BBC Turkish, DW Turkish, Sputnik Turkey) public media in Turkey’s competitive authoritarian context, tracking their divergence across four consecutive elections (June 2015, November 2015, June 2018, May 2023). Drawing from a corpus of 1.5 million tweets, we employ a mixed-methods analysis on 22,739 campaign-related tweets to examine three dimensions: media visibility of political parties, thematic framing patterns, and discursive positioning of political actors. Our findings reveal a statistically significant and stark dichotomy. Domestic public media exhibit an extreme pro-incumbent bias, allocating over 92% of visibility to the ruling party by 2023, while confining opposition parties to narrow thematic frames and portraying them predominantly as passive objects of government criticism. Conversely, international public media maintain a relative editorial balance, providing opposition parties with substantive visibility, diverse thematic coverage, and discursive agency as active political subjects. This systematic comparison provides robust empirical evidence of the partisan capture of Turkey’s domestic public media, documenting their transformation from public forums into a state apparatus. Furthermore, it demonstrates how international public media have evolved to function as a surrogate public sphere, filling the void in a highly polarized and restrictive media environment.

Tracking by mobile media has become key to coordination and surveillance of delivery gig work. Through their daily app-based media operations, delivery gig workers contribute to the capitalisation and establishment of platform companies’ spatiotemporal regimes. But this app-based tracking has been a source of tension and conflict, particularly in the face of growing organised and unionised resistance by delivery gig workers in Germany. App-based tracking is evolving into an arena for negotiating resistance, conducting counter-surveillance and (temporarily) disrupting platform-based supply chains. These forms of labour resistance and counter-surveillance by individual riders, works councils or trade unions are either 1) directed against app-based tracking itself or 2) seek to operationalise resistance through the use of app-based tracking. Drawing on an empirical analysis of different forms of resistance, this article offers a critical media studies perspective on resistant mobile media operations in response to app-based tracking. Based on a digital ethnography of resistance by German delivery gig workers, it shows how different forms of resistance in delivery gig work are negotiated against and through app-based tracking. We present local and non-hegemonic perspectives on mobile media operations of spatiotemporal coordination and surveillance that enable a critical analysis of the (non-)human power and information asymmetries involved in gig work resistance.

In this article we attempt to cast light on Alevi politics in Turkey, mainly the diverse political orientations regarding Alevilik.' We note the differential political power the groups with different political orientations hold and their varied positionings vis-a-vis the Turkish state, as well as the competing political agendas they offer, and to which groups in the Alevi public these political agendas appeal and why. Alevilik is the second major religious formation after Sunnilik in Turkish society. There is no accurate information and consensus on the number of Alevis in the society because of the assimilative politics of the state since Ottoman times, as well as the tendency of the Alevi to hide their identities. Their estimated number by different sources however ranges from at least 10 per cent to over a quarter of the total population.2 Since the last decade Alevis have become more visible in society, and they have been more active in the political arena. We can talk about the re-politicization (for some, revivalism)3 of Alevilik in the Turkish civil society where the popular and academic literature on various aspects of Alevilik increased.4 Political debates initiated by various Alevi communities and popular demands of the Alevi population were carried onto the public sphere. With the development of and quantitative increase in the media in Turkey, Alevi identities found new channels to express themselves. General reasons for this re-politicization of Alevilik can be identified:5 Firstly, there is the fall of Communism and its effect on those Leftists close to Alevilik. This resulted in the redefinition of Alevilik as an alternative social movement (and clearly not a religious one). Secondly, the rise of Sunni political Islam has made the Alevi population, along with Sunni Kemalists, organize themselves as a counterforce against it, defending Kemalist principles, and particularly secularism. This point is also addressed by Kehl-Bodrogi who argues that the timing of the reawakening of Alevism was no coincidence: (The reawaking of Alevism) occurred at the peak of the political struggles to preserve the laicistic legacy of Kemalism. In this situation the Alevis were in a position to present themselves to secular Turkey

This thesis provides a critical new history of Neds and Ned Culture in Glasgow between the years 1995-2008, situating the phenomenon within the broader socio-economic history of class antagonism, spatial disrepute, deindustrialisation, and longstanding and generational systemic violence. Through a neo-dialectical and historical materialist lens, the research examines the emergence and persistence of Neds as a disenfranchised, working-class subculture, distinctively marked by aesthetics, territoriality, and collective forms of identity and resistance. Through an insider-outsider perspective, and drawing upon 21 semi-structured oral history interviews, archival material, alongside language and object analysis, the thesis reveals the complex realities of Ned Culture beyond its popular representation as a solely deviant 'folk devil' with little meaning or purpose. Challenging both the sensationalist media narratives and post-subcultural assertions of hyper-individualistic and fluid identities divorced from class constraint, the research argues that Ned Culture was a subculture born through the harsh material conditions of Glasgow’s schemes – spaces of enduring poverty, dispossession, addiction, and violence. By exploring the cultural practices of Neds, including the significance of their aesthetics and music tastes – much of which was a product of both history and socialisation – the thesis demonstrates how style and identity was reconfigured as forms of resistance and membership. Critically analysing Jack McConnell’s War on Neds, the research highlights how the ideological manufacturing of Neds as a purely deviant subculture worse than anything that had come before it, justified punitive neoliberal policies which intensified spatial stigmatisation, while facilitating a wider carceral expansion in targeting, even if unconsciously, the urban poor. Moving further beyond the traditional stereotypes of Neds, the research brings to light the gendered experiences within the culture, revealing complex negotiations of masculinity, femininity, and respectability that were mediated by wider sociocultural expectations rooted in conservative morality. Ultimately, this research fills a significant gap in the current youth culture scholarship, allowing for a nuanced understanding of Ned Culture as simultaneously a product of systemic violence, and a cultural scheme socialisation which was embodied and expressed in a manner that reflected longstanding traditions of Glasgow’s ‘schizophrenic personality’. In doing so, the research reframes Neds not simply as criminal and problematic, but as active subjects navigating and resisting the historical marginalisation of the working-class poor.

This paper examines the critical shift in geographical knowledge production under the increasingly authoritarian political regime in Turkey, particularly in the aftermath of the unsuccessful 2016 coup attempt. In this context, semi-structured interviews were conducted with sixteen young geographers who experienced the authoritarian shift in the political regime during their graduate studies. The narratives of the interviewees indicate that the young geographers have undergone a critical transformation with two significant aspects: firstly, they reject the traditional style of geographical knowledge production and instead embrace approaches integrated with social theory, drawing from the extensive portfolio of contemporary geography. Secondly, they approach socio-spatial phenomena in a libertarian and critical manner, distinct from the lenses of the authoritarian system. However, due to their legitimate concerns, they often refrain from presenting such research on academic platforms. In this regard, under an authoritarian regime, the critical transformation consists of two dimensions: the arena where geographical products are shared, and the underground, where geographical ‘black boxes’ are held and kept hidden from public view.

Religious tendencies have become more visible around the world during the last two decades, moving further from the private to the public domain. Taking Turkey as a case in point, this article will explore how religious organizations have been active in developing cultural polices designed to shape the attitudes and behaviours of particular groups of people. After reflecting briefly on the significance of the historic relations between Christianity and Islam in culture‐shaping activities, the article will explore the attempts of Islamic sects to influence the culture of three social groups in contemporary Turkey: youth, rural women in cities and the potential audiences of specific TV and radio channels.

This study analyzes gender issues in Genduk Duku, a novel by Y.B. Mangunwijaya, through Michel Foucault’s Critical Discourse Analysis. Set in the historical context of the Mataram Kingdom, the novel portrays various forms of gender inequality experienced by female characters, particularly Genduk Duku, within a patriarchal social structure. This research aims to describe the manifestations of gender issues, power relations, and forms of female resistance depicted in the text. This qualitative descriptive research employs content analysis techniques. The data consist of textual excerpts from the novel that represent subordination, objectification, stigmatization, marginalization, and symbolic violence against women. The analysis is guided by Foucault’s concept of power relations, including power over the social body, power over the sexual body, and power over thought, all of which operate through discourse, cultural institutions, religion, and political structures. The findings show that women in the novel are positioned as objects of male and aristocratic power. The female body is treated as property of the ruler, a sexual commodity, and an element of a social system that demands obedience. Patriarchal discourse spreads through customary rules, royal law, and linguistic constructions that normalize domination. However, the study also reveals various forms of resistance, expressed through the female characters’ courage to reject harassment, defend their dignity, and make autonomous life decisions. These results indicate that Genduk Duku functions not only as a historical narrative but also as a critique of the enduring nature of gender inequality. This research contributes to feminist literary studies and expands the application of Foucault’s theory in examining power relations within Indonesian literary texts.

In this article, we explore the ways language has been used in Cyprus during different historical periods as a means of a dividing power, with the use of Cypriot dialects as a form of resistance and reunification of the island. We situate these translanguaging themes within a context of affective biopolitics that impacts Cypriot generations in shaping their everyday life through borderscapes and nationalisms. More specifically, we first examine how the official languages of the island (Greek and Turkish) have been used in the dominant public sphere(s) of Cyprus to marginalise Cypriot dialects, which, in turn, have been used as an oral means of communication, but also to impose symbolic signifiers of the biopolitics of borders and nationalisms in dividing communities. Secondly, we explore ways in which Cypriot dialects have been used as forms of linguistic resistance to nationalism, offering an alternative collective identity for generations of both communities, even during periods when nationalism was dominant in both communities. The translanguaging exploration centres on a close discourse analysis of one particular radio programme—the ‘Cypriot radio sketch’—that has been very popular among Cypriots since the appearance of radio in Cyprus in 1953. Finally, we analytically and discursively contextualise attempts of revival of the Cypriot dialects by younger generations as communicative forms of resistance to powers of partition, as well as translanguaging pathways to actualise their desire for the reunification of the island. We eclectically draw on a multi-method approach to combine datasets from interviews, media and social media while combining critical discourse analysis to theorise the affordances, borderscapes and affective biopolitics of generational language use within geographies of nationalism and resistance in the borderscapes of a divided Cyprus.

This chapter aims to investigate the functions of law within the authoritarian liberal regime of Turkey. In an attempt to grasp both instrumental and symbolic, or coercive and consensual dimensions of the authoritarian legal phenomena, the chapter also discusses the possibilities of making use of law and courts, both substantially and instrumentally, for resisting the authoritarian law. The legal disciplining of labour is an important aspect of authoritarian neoliberal regimes. Through the case study of the large-scale strikes in the Turkish metal industry sector that took place in 2015, the chapter aims to disentangle the ways in which authoritarian neoliberalism finds expression in law, in which ways it is played out, contested, resisted and subverted.

The authoritarian regime has long been a topic of interest for political science scholars in Turkey. While there is substantial literature on the form and formation of the AKP’s authoritarianism, particularly in terms of economic management and clientelism, the existing literature fails to draw a connection between labour management and the type of political regime. This paper aims to address a gap in the existing literature by focusing on the specific politics and labour containment strategies employed by successive AKP governments. Drawing from the current debate and grey literature on the political regime in Turkey, this paper contributes to the theoretical framing of the authoritarianism of the AKP. My theoretical framing asserts indebted financialization, Islamist benevolence, paternalist industrial relations, politicized and corporatist trade unionism, marginalization combined with criminalization, and segregation-based segmentation as the fundamental labour management strategies that reproduce and deepen authoritarianism in Turkey.

What are the social dynamics behind the rise and resilience of today’s authoritarian regimes? This paper seeks to answer this question by focusing on the longest lasting elected autocracy of our era, the AKP (Justice and Development Party) regime in Turkey. Building on the authoritarian neoliberalism literature’s criticism of the scholarship on competitive authoritarianism, I point out the seeds of authoritarianism in the pro-market reforms of the 1980s–2000s. However, both literatures fail to address the popular embrace of authoritarianism. In critical engagement with analyses of fascism, I develop the concept ‘democratic autocracy’: a parliamentarised, individualised, personalistic, and relatively more market-oriented, twenty-first century version of fascism. The democratic autocracy in Turkey organises and mobilises the people through parties, youth and aid associations, paramilitary organisations, and unions. However, both unresolved economic crises and democratic autocracy’s sociopolitical dynamics set limits to its resilience, as well as to the sustainability of its parliamentarism.