This book examines how Turkey’s ruling party, the Justice and Development Party (AKP), under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan produces and employs necropolitical narratives in order to perpetuate its authoritarian rule.
In doing so, the book argues that as the party transitioned from socially conservative Muslim democratic values to authoritarian Islamism, it embraced a necropolitical narrative based on the promotion of martyrdom, and of killing and dying for the Turkish nation and Islam, as part of their authoritarian legitimation. This narrative, the book shows, is used by the party to legitimise its actions and deflect its failures through the framing of the deaths of Turkish soldiers and civilians, which have occurred due to the AKP’s political errors, as martyrdom events in which loyal servants of the Turkish Republic and God gave their lives in order to protect the nation in a time of great crisis. This book also describes how, throughout its second decade in power, the AKP has used Turkey’s education system, its Directorate of Religious Affairs, and television programs in order to propagate its necropolitical martyrdom narrative.
Author(s): Ihsan Yilmaz, Omer Erturk
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 218
City: Singapore
Contents
1 The AKP’s Civilizational Populist Authoritarianism and Necropolitics
Introduction
Three Pillars of Authoritarian Stability
Civilizational Populism
Necropolitics
The Civilizational Populist Necropolitics in the AKP Authoritarianism
Structure of the Book
References
Part I Civilizational Populist Necropolitical Propaganda
2 Martyrdom and Martyr-Icons in Turkish Politics
Introduction
Kemalism and Martyrs
Kemalists’ Martyr Hero Icon Kubilay
Conclusion
References
3 Martyrdom in the Erdoğanist AKP’s Politics
Introduction
Erdoğanism and Martyrs
Erdoğanists’ Martyr-Icons
Conclusion
References
4 Necropolitical Sermons
Introduction
Militarism in the Friday Sermons from Kemalist to Erdoğanist Times
Jihadism in Friday Sermons
Martyrdom in Friday Sermons
Conclusion
References
5 The Use of TV Series for Civilizational Populist Necropolitical Propaganda
Introduction
The State’s Use of TV Series from Kemalist to Erdoğanist Times
The TV Series as a Means of Necropolitical Re-Production
Glorifying Death, Beheading, Martyrdom, and Graves in a Jihadist Context
Conclusion
References
6 Targeting Children via Education for Populist Necropolitical Propaganda
Introduction
The Necropolitical National Curriculum from Kemalism to Erdoğanism
Jihad and Martyrdom as Necropolitical Instruments in Texts
Civilizational Populist Necropolitical Investment at the Schools
Glorification of Martyrdom in Diyanet’s Children’s Magazines and Comics
Conclusion
References
Part II Necropolitics in Authoritarian Action
7 Necropolitics and AKP’s Blame Avoidance
Introduction
Blame Avoidance Tactics
Redefine, Reshape, Spin, and Manipulate the Blame
Impose Restrictions on Access to Opposing Voices and Media
Turn Blame into Credit
Bargaining via Rewards
Conclusion
References
8 Necropolitics and Martyrdom in AKP’s Authoritarian Stability
Introduction
Necropolitics and Repression
Necropolitics and Legitimation for Authoritarianism
Necropolitics and Co-optation
Conclusion
References
Part III Necropolitics and Turkish Society
9 Necropolitics and Turkish Society
Introduction
‘Tell Us to Kill, We Will Kill; Tell Us to Die, We Will Die’
Sacrificing Life for Erdoğan and His Religious Cause (da’wa)
Conclusion
References
10 The Authoritarian Role of Necropolitics and Martyrdom in Turkey Under AKP Rule
References
Index
534264_1_En_4_Chapter_OnlinePDF.pdf
4 Necropolitical Sermons
Introduction
Militarism in the Friday Sermons from Kemalist to Erdoğanist Times
Jihadism in Friday Sermons
Martyrdom in Friday Sermons
Conclusion
References
