The role of the media in ensuring the political legitimacy of coups: The examples Of 12 September, 28 February And 15 July

After the advances in the field of communication, with the effect of globalization and technology, mass media has become very important for both the state and society. The subject of the study, which is determined based on the context of the canalization of society by the media, is to reveal the effects that the media can create on states, societies and individuals in terms of the relationship between politics and legitimacy, through critical periods. In this context, in the study, Critical Theory, which provides intellectual foundations for mass communication studies that deal with the relationship between media and politics, was used, and the topics of ideology, discourse, consent production and securitization were examined in the theoretical framework section of the study. The critical periods selected as a sample for the study; The 12 September 1980 Coup, the 28 February Post-Modern Coup and the 15 July Coup Attempt in Turkey. Reference points related to concepts such as legitimacy, media, military coup, which will be used to examine the periods related to this sample, are included in the conceptual framework of the study. The political, social and legal foundations on which these military intervention processes, selected as examples in the following sections, are based; preparation phases and realization processes are included. Media reflections related to the sample of the study were analyzed using the critical discourse analysis method and Van Dijk's Socio-Cognitive Discourse Analysis technique. Selected analysis technique; It predicts that data selection should focus on "Moments of Critical Discourse" that can cover much longer periods, not reflections in specific date ranges, in order to better understand the processes related to such critical periods. In this direction, in this study, media reflections, which can be described as moments of critical discourse belonging to the periods, were examined in order to better understand the military intervention processes. In the selection of these moments, from the newspapers Cumhuriyet, Milliyet, Hürriyet, Tercüman regarding the 12 September 1980 Coup; One-year period (6 months before-after) from Cumhuriyet, Milliyet, Hürriyet and Sabah newspapers regarding the 28 February Post-Modern Coup; As for the Coup Attempt of July 15 and July 15, the first 15 newspapers were used according to the circulation of the week of July 11-17, 2016, since they contain a different process from the other two samples. Critical discourse moments in the media reflections on the military intervention processes; news presentations and the elements of the Socio-Cognitive Discourse Analysis method. Through the media reflections analyzed; It has been revealed that it contributed to the success of the coup processes in the 12 September and 28 February periods regarding its impact on these critical political processes, and that it played a major role in the failure of the coup attempt to achieve the desired result in the 15 July period. Keywords: Legitimacy, Ideology, Discourse, Media, 12 September, 28 February, 15 July, Military Coup.