Populist discourses of political leaders in Turkey on Twitter: “you can’t, I will”

ABSTRACTIn Turkey, populism has a homogeneous structure that includes opposing ideologies stuck between right-wing and left-wing views. In the political structure in Turkey, ‘us’ and ‘the other’ are created through populism and an exclusionary attitude towards political rivals is adopted. The present study analyzes the populist issues and populism communication processes of 4 candidates on Twitter ahead of the presidential elections in Turkey. The posts (n = 727) made by the candidates on their Twitter accounts between March 10 and 10 April 2023 were analysed using the content analysis method. As a result of the study, the approaches of the political candidates towards economic, political, cultural and social issues on Twitter were analysed within the framework of populism. The topics addressed by the candidates on Twitter during the election process varied according to the candidates’ positions in power and opposition. On the other hand, it was found that the political candidates defined their populist communication style on Twitter based on the themes of ‘champion of the people’, ‘the man on the street’ and ‘sincerity’.KEYWORDS: Twıtterpopulısmpopulist communication stylepopulist discoursepopulist leaders Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. According to the report prepared by We Are Social in 2022, 81 percent of Turkey’s population uses social media networks.