This is a follow up post on my Beacon article. I thought some people might have questions about the limitations of that particular piece of analysis, as I analysed data about a partly conservative hashtag. I already mentioned in the Beacon post that I can reproduce (and I have) the same results with other types of hashtags and topics, but why take my word for it? I decided to blog my results from additional analyses here. I have already deleted my previous data sets on non-politicised and opposition-like topics, so I will analyse a few other hashtags -on Twitter- that communicate opposition ideas, and post only a few details here. Continue reading “The Illusion of Opposition on Turkish Twitter – Continued Here (part 2 – live in some way)”
Tag: turkey
The Illusion of Opposition on Turkish Twitter by Yusuf Salman — Beacon
It is a common assumption by journalists, some social scientists and social media users that platforms like Twitter, or SM in general are centres of resistance in regions where there is some sort of conflict. I decided to check this assumption for Turkey.
Source: The Illusion of Opposition on Turkish Twitter by Yusuf Salman — Beacon
A Million Ways to Die in Turkey
I have a friend who has been living in Brussels for a few years, yet she is still surprised about how “the Belgians” react to things or what kind of things they talk about in their daily lives. In Turkey, we talk about death on a daily basis. On the other hand, she keeps sending me news stories about deaths in Turkey. Let us start with more “popular” examples some of you might be aware of. Continue reading “A Million Ways to Die in Turkey”
Rape and Death Penalty: How to Lose in Politics and Life
Yesterday, I wrote about the horrendous murder of a young woman. You may find the relevant details about the issue with a simple Google search. I also mentioned the people’s eagerness to call for death penalty whenever they feel like it. This part of my comments will be all about death penalty, and why we would be the ones to lose if it was ever brought back. Continue reading “Rape and Death Penalty: How to Lose in Politics and Life”
Three Branches of Government: Turkey’s Struggle to Understand Democracy
Turkey’s problems in understanding democracy, human rights and freedoms were always -at least partly- structural. In the last twelve years, the government in power made it practically official. Since the Republic of Turkey was founded, we have tried to meet civilised standards, sometimes it worked out alright, most of the time it did not. However, up to this point, this ineptness was either personal, or ideology-based. The idea of a “republic” was not the thing that created problems, it was the choice of the powerful every time. Turkey experienced some coup d’etat attempts, a few of which were successful, but, even under military rule, the lines separating the powers, that is, three branches of government, have never been so blurred. We can add the “single-party” regime in the beginning of the new republic as an exception. Some of the aspects of “that” issue can be justified, some others cannot. What I will do in this article is to point out the current problems regarding these three branches, pillars or “estates” in Turkey. The point of view here is concerned with the “legislative”, the “judiciary” and the “executive” branches.
Continue reading “Three Branches of Government: Turkey’s Struggle to Understand Democracy”