From the Discourse of Nation to Islamic Ummah: Analysis of the Balcony Speech of Presidential Election in 2014 by means of Fairclough’s Discourse Analysis

Abstract

The sultanate of 623 years and the caliphate of 1292 years were abolished as a result of Kemalist revolution. Turkey was reconstructed as a Western type nation state and its official discourse was also reconstituted according to this ideal. On the other hand, any counter-discourse attempt was strictly prevented. Justice and Development Party (JDP) has become a turning point in the political experience of Turkey since 2001 when the party was established. It can be said that Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the founding general president of JDP, is the last and the most successful representative of this counter-discourse. The balcony speech Erdoğan made after his triumph in the presidential election which was held for the first time in Turkish history is a significant example the elements of this counter-discourse can be found. In this paper, the balcony speech of Erdoğan will be evaluated by means of Fairclough’s discourse analysis which comprises three phases: text analysis, processing analysis and social analysis.