Pursuit of new antagonist discourses: Politics in poetry of the 1980s

The thesis is about the relationship between politics and Turkish poet-ry in the decade from 1980 to 1990. This decade is characterized by the 12 September 1980 coup d'état and the incorporation of the coun-try to the global economy. This study interrogates changes in the cul-ture and literature of Turkish society in this new context. Turkish po-etry of the Republican period carried political and social references - except for movements such as "Second New" - until the 1980s. The military coup, I argue, facilitated the rise of a new abstract poetry with its own micro-politics. In this poetry, political content swung towards individualism, and form changed along with the content. The present dissertation analyzes the changes in the purpose, theme and represen-tation of post-1980s poetry along with changes in its socio-political environment.