‘The politics of conspiracy theories in Turkey’ panel was organised

THE Centre for Policy and Research on Turkey and LSE SU Turkish society joint public lecture titled “The politics of Conspiracy Theories in Turkey” was presented by Dr. Türkay Salim Nefes.

The event took place on Tuesday 6 March 2018 at the London School of Economics.

Dr. Türkay Salim Nefes is currently a research fellow at the Sociology department of the University of Oxford and is known for his work on conspiracy rhetoric in various academic journals.

During his presentation in the event, Türkay notes that the Turkish government’s reaction to the Gezi Park protests, a reaction centred on a conspiracy theory about an ‘interest rate lobby,’ provides a unique case to explore the impacts of conspiracy theories about big-scale protests.

In regards to research analysis, Türkay further outlines that his findings portray that the previous political views of online users predict their responses to conspiracy theories, and the users’ comments were centred on their perceptions of the government. These show that people tend to interpret the conspiracy theories in line with their political values and interests, and, accordingly, that the government’s conspiratorial frames concerning the protests seem to have contributed to the political fragmentation by enhancing the division between the Justice and Progress Party (AKP) supporters and opponents.