An interdisciplinary perspective on conspiracy theories from the fields of political ideology and political psychology: The case of Sebilürreşad journal

Conspiracy theories have been inherent in politics in every historical period in order to understand social events by the masses and to make sense of crises. Concepts such as great powers, infiltration, dual world understanding, and the hidden hand are often embedded in the discourse. Thinking that everything that happens in the world is the result of the actions of the conspirators is a backlash against inequalities and helps to find scapegoats. Conspiracy theories have been included in the texts of Sebilürreşad Journal, which has existed in the history of the Ottoman-Turkish Republic since the Second Constitutional Era and is one of the most important representatives of Islamism. Islamism, the ideology of the journal, has sought remedies for the collapse of the Ottoman Empire since Abdulhamid II. With the establishment of the Republic,Islamism lost its power. Sebilürreşad Journal continued to be the voice of Islamism during the period from the Second Constitutional Period to the 1960 Coup. The Islamist groups, which have a conflicting relationship with Turkish secularization, have made their relationship with the mass through conspiracy theories. Eşref Edib, the editor-in-chief of the Sebilürreşad Journal, tried to reverse the association of the One Party with these sections of reaction with üç irtica. Three reactionaries describe the main concerns and dualities of Islamism. Black reaction claims to make Turkey Christian and is based on Islam's opposition to the West. Yellow reaction ranks Jews, Freemasons and Zionists as the eternal other of Islamism. Red reaction, on the other hand, is the opposition to communism during the Cold War as an anticommunist stance. Political psychological explanation was found to be significant because of the psychological reasons for believing in conspiracy theories and the cognitive processes they went through. In this study, belief in conspiracy theories was analyzed with satisfied motives and cognitive biases. Three basic motives, epistemic, existential and social motives are satisfied. The need for cognitive closure, intolerance to ambiguity, confirmation bias, overlap error, need for uniqueness cognitive biases mediate the satisfaction of these motives. In the study, the discourse analysis method, which is a qualitative research method and offers the opportunity to analyze political science and political psychology together, was preferred. Throughout its publication life, Sebilürreşad Journal shows the influence of Islamism on applying to conspiracy theories after Turkish Secularization. In the example of Sebilürreşad, the Islamists were not competent in producing the language of Islamism. Therefore, Sebilürreşad conveyed his identity and enemies with the rhetoric of conspiracy theories.