Rhetorical strategies in 2014 Presidential election

This dissertation aims to examine the rhetorical strategies used by the candidates Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Selahattin Demirtaş in presidential elections held on August 10th 2014 in a referendum format for the first-time in Turkey. The study deals with 2014 Presidential Election with a theoretical perspective based on new / modern rhetoric that developed in the second half of 20th century within the Rhetoric Theory and uses methodological perspective of participatory critical rhetoric. Election campaigns of the candidates were examined as the context of the rhetoric, and the data was collected from the meetings of the candidates held in Diyarbakır, İstanbul and İzmir through participant observation method with methodological perspective of participatory critical rhetoric and a series of interviews were conducted with those involved in the organization of these election campaigns. In addition, rhetorical strategies used in election bulletin introduction meetings, the speeches they made in meetings and propaganda speeches broadcast on TRT were also analyzed. According to the findings, the main strategies adopted by İhsanoğlu were conventionalism, academic and international political experiences as well as calm and rational personality. The rhetorical strategies of Erdoğan were found to be based on serving, national will, antistatus quo discourse as well as bold and aggressive personality. As for the rhetorical strategies of Demirtaş, it was found that they were based on equality among peoples according to radical democracy principles. In conclusion, the rhetorical strategies adopted by the candidates clearly define the conjectural positions, fractions and transformations of the political movement they belong to. Key Words: Rhetoric, participatory critical rhetoric, presidential elections, election campaigns.