What is it about?
Relying on quantitative and qualitative content analysis of online users’ responses to the government’s conspiracy theories, I discuss the socio-political significance of this conspiratorial rhetoric about the Gezi Park protests. The findings show that people tend to interpret the conspiracy theories in line with their political values and interests, and, accordingly, that the government’s conspiratorial frames concerning the protests seem to have contributed to the political fragmentation by enhancing the division between the Justice and Progress Party (AKP) supporters and opponents.
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Why is it important?
This is the first study that investigates the impacts of official conspiracy theories about a momentous social movement. Given that conspiracy rhetoric is quite common and influential in the current post-truth times, this is a very significant empirical research on their consequences.
Perspectives
I think this is very timely intervention, as in the post-truth times, conspiracy theories constitute a very important phenomena. Moreover, it is about the real-life impacts of a momentous social movement in Turkey, the Gezi Park protests.
Dr Turkay Salim Nefes
University of Oxford
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The impacts of the Turkish government’s conspiratorial framing of the Gezi Park protests, Social Movement Studies, April 2017, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/14742837.2017.1319269.
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