Reflections of Historical Figures in Political Speeches by Opposition Leaders

This project aims to explore the uses of history in current politics. Spanning the five-year period between the first presidential election by public vote in 2014 and the second presidential election coinciding with the general elections in 2019, the project focuses on the various speeches delivered by the opposition leaders in Turkey. The project team will examine the speeches referring to notable historical figures; trace the reflections of the relevant speeches in mainstream print, broadcast, and digital media; evaluate the speeches and their media reflections in terms of timing, location, and audience. The evaluations will be used for two layers of assessment, namely short-term and long-term. A short-term assessment will provide a case-based analysis for each speech indicating the related historical context and its current relevance. A long-term assessment at the end of the project will bring all case-based evaluations together and try to identify possible patterns, if any, in the use of history in daily politics.