Laclau and populist discourse: Example of local political communication

This study argues that since 2015, the President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has deepened the antagonistic border by emphasizing the 'native and national' discourse, dividing the society into two friend and enemy. In addition, it is claimed that the codes that make up the content of the 'native' and 'national' articulations of the discourse largely bear traces of the 'right social memory of Turkish politics'. Which 'political contexts' and which discursive codes the 'domestic and national' discourse was operationalized from November 1, 2015, to June 24, 2018, during the general elections, constitute the questions on which our study is based. Speeches in which the 'native and national' discourse came to the fore; The discursive approach, framed in Laclau's theory of populism, has been analyzed by reference. Within the scope of the thesis, speeches during the General Elections of November 1, 2015, the Constitutional Referendum of April 16, 2017, and the Presidential Election of June 24, 2018, were taken into account. At the end of the study, our arguments were confirmed that the 'native and national' discourse, which we determined to have completely transformed into a 'hegemonic state' discourse as of the 24 June 2018 general elections, was applied to deepen the antagonistic border where the logic of differences is dominant, and that the codes registered in the discourse largely bear traces of the 'right social memory'.