Excerpts from Zamanın Kelimeleri: Yeni Türkiye’nin Siyasî Dili (Words of Our Times: The Political Language of New Turkey)

These essays grapple with the widely “expended” words that characterize the era of the nationalist-conservative-populist Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, or AKP) in Turkey, which has been in power since 2002. Some of these words rest on a specified backdrop of nationalist and Islamist jargon. Others are words that have accrued meaning in tandem with the zeitgeist. Still others seem to have no particular political meaning, appearing rather “neutral,” though in fact they serve as reflections of a hegemonic zeitgeist. While the pointed political use of these words may be identified as “manipulative” and elicit reactions accordingly, the majority of the words are nonetheless perceived as entirely “neutral.” In any event, they are words that seize upon and configure public language, imposing a broad set of prejudices upon popular imaginaries. They function in society by reproducing the nationalist-conservative and authoritarianpopulist worldview as well as the ethos and pathos that sustain that worldview. Collectively, these essays clarify the historical and political background of the words at hand, examining their ideological function as well as their etymological and stylistic inspirations. By extension, these essays problematize these words, which, due to their standardizing effect, ensnare political communication and, moreover, powerfully corrode already weak sensitivities to the power of language.