2020 KKTC CB Aday Adaylarının Covid-19 İzolasyon Sürecinde Kriz Yönetimi Söylemleri Analizi

The World Health Organization officially classified the Coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) spreading from Wuhan city, China, as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. The virus, which seriously threatens human health and even results in death, reveals the different management methods of the world countries in medical, economic and social terms. In the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, the legitimate government (coalition government), acting differently from many countries in the world while managing this process, prevented the spread of the disease by taking the precaution on March 10, 2020, when the first case was spotted. The measures taken as top priory were to shut down the country's border’s (air, sea, land), for people from abroad to isolate the country, partial curfew and to postpone the Presidential election, which was planned to be held in April 2020, to October 2020, with the decision of the TRNC parliament. During the 56-day isolation period between March 10 and May 5, 2020, the legitimate government started working on the opening plan as well as managing the current crisis, with the cases being reset. In particular, the fact that the country is in the Presidential election process and that the political party leaders of the coalition government, the main opposition party leader and current President contested a seat, their different ideas and discourses revolving around these ideas on crisis management and opening plan have marked the process. In this study, the discourses of four politicians who became a candidate for the Presidential election, President Mustafa Akıncı, Prime Minister Ersin Tatar, Deputy Prime Minister Kudret Özersay, and the leader of the Main Opposition Party Tufan Erhürman during the 56-day isolation period were analyzed in terms of political communication. The discourses they shared on Facebook were gathered and analyzed in terms of content and mode by using the qualitative analysis method, categorized and macro and micro structures were tried to be revealed through Van Dijk's critical discourse analysis method. As a result of the research carried out, it was observed that the four Presidential candidates are in conflict and their approach to crisis management and strategy is reactive. Keywords: Political Communication, Discourse Analyzes, Crisis Management, Facebook, Covid-19.