Communication strategies used by the Turkish Workers' Party as a political party to reach the public

This study investigates the propaganda strategies used by the Turkish Workers' Party (TİP) while trying to reach the public; It examines the periodicals (newspapers, magazines), radio propaganda speeches and election posters that supported TİP at the national and local level before and after the 10 October 1965 Parliamentary General Elections. Within the scope of the research, national-scale Sosyal Adalet, Dönüşüm, Kurtuluş; local-scale Sömürücülüğe Karşı Savaş and Alınteri all contents of magazines/newspapers, covering the period 6 months before and 6 months after the elections, as well as 15 radio speeches made on behalf of TİP from Turkish Radio Stations before the elections, were examined. In addition to the unique value that TİP brought to the culture of political communication in Turkish political history, the examination of the propaganda strategies of this election period makes the study and its findings important, as the 10 October 1965 Parliamentary General elections were a turning point that brought the party to the parliament. According to the results of the study, thanks to the qualitative content analysis applied to the periodicals examined within the scope of the research, some common features characterizing the propaganda strategy of TİP are encountered in the content of the five periodicals. A distinct emphasis on "truth telling" is found in the 15 radio speeches analyzed using the rhetorical analysis method within the scope of the research. Although TİP's propaganda texts carry populist motifs, it differs significantly from right-wing populism because it is, above all, a socialist party, it follows scientific developments, and its propagandists largely consist of intellectuals, writers and scientists. TİP used populism not as a goal, but as a propaganda tool to mobilize the masses and increase the power of the narrative. Key Words: Turkish Workers' Party, rhetoric, propaganda, truth telling, populism