Critical discourse analysis of tweets and entries of dissidents in Turkey: the irresistible lure of voting

Abstract

Turkey had 12 major political elections in last 10 years. Such intensive election environment had profound impacts on voters. Especially after the elections conducted in 2018 and 2019 many dissident voters first stated on online websites that they will abstain from political elections, and yet later on stated that they actually voted after all. In this paper, through a discourse analysis of statements of dissident voters on online platforms such as Twitter and Ekşi Sözlük, I will demonstrate what accounts for turnout among dissidents in Turkey. There are 3 main factors, which are political, social and psychological factors, revealed around the dissidents’ statements. According to 750 online posts on Twitter and Ekşi Sözlük out of countless many, most of the dissidents went to the ballot box as a reaction to polarized political environment generated by the ruling party AKP and to say that they exist and will not yield to black propaganda. In relation with political factors, such as polarized political environment and political figures which attracted dissidents, voters cast their vote since their social circles (families and friends) influenced them to do so. As a third factor, psychological factors brought dissidents to the ballot box by mostly awakening their feelings of remorse and gratitude. In the light of my findings it is important to see that in a hybrid regime like Turkey voting is not only a fundamental act of political participation but also a struggle for life for the opposition.