A review on 2016 coup attempt in Turkey within the context of Hannah Arendt's thought

During the state of emergency declared after the coup attempt of 15 July, the government's policies were criticized by many and described as anti-democratic due to its arbitrary policies which target freedoms and pluralism. There is argued on democratic structures of some countries include Turkey, in academic and international environments, and these regimes are characterized by various antidemocratic definition. In this study, the political regime which formed during the state of emergency wanted to be analysed with the idea of totalitarianism in the sense of used by Hannah Arendt. In this context, one of the key questions in this study is the policies which followed by the political power in this period that whether it has a totalitarian character and whether there is a possibility of creating a totalitarian regime. Arendt's idea of totalitarianism is one of the topic which discussed in this study. Unlike others thinkers, Arendt considers the concept of totalitarianism as a process, not result-oriented. For Arendt, to examine the condition and phenomenon that give rise to totalitarian regimes, in this way to understand why totalitarianism arise is more important than defining a regimen. A similar method was followed in this study. Some important events in the encountering background of the pre-coup process argued as signs of authoritarianism in the political system and it was concluded that these events were effective in the authoritarianism of the political power. In this study, it is concluded that Turkey reflects the practices of an authoritarian regime during the state of emergency and has the potential to become a totalitarian regime by showing certain totalitarian characters from some factors, such as desiring to dominate over the whole country with oppressive policies, creating a mass society that is clamped around the leader cult, arbitrary and unlawful practices, following a polarizing policy through the discourse of 'terrorism'. Key Words: Arendt, Totalitarianism, 15th July Coup Attempt, State of Emergency, Political Regime, Power