IhaNeT · Identity, Nation and Treason in Turkish Concept of Authority.

Discourses surrounding “enemies within”, traitors, and “fifth columns” are prevalent in public discourse, creating negative archetypes that can be stigmatized based on political stances, cultural behaviors, or belonging to a particular religious or ethnic group in every society. Concurrently, these narratives reinforce boundaries of collective identities, delineating us/them, majority/minority, and hero/traitor dichotomies. While hate speech has been repeatedly addressed by the EU commission, the mechanism that guide the construction of negative dehumanized stereotypes are still not adequately analyzed. IhaNeT is an interdisciplinary project that aims to improve the understanding of the concept of treason (ihanet in Turkish), in its collective dimension, in Türkiye. This country represents a compelling case study due to the pervasiveness of the concept of treason in public discourse, media, and memory throughout history. Covering the period from the collapse of the Ottoman Empire (1918) to the failed military coup of 2016, IhaNeT aims to elucidate the evolution of treason in its legal, discursive, and subjective dimensions, thereby contributing to the understanding of the concept of political authority. To achieve this overall objective, I will adopt a strongly interdisciplinary approach, drawing on history, cultural studies, media studies and discourse studies. Accordingly, I will use methods such as archival research, content analysis and discourse analysis to examine a corpus of legal, media and autobiographical sources. I will be supervised by three top-rank scholars, Fabio Grassi (Sapienza University of Rome, Beneficiary), Serena Tolino (Universitait Bern, Outgoing) and Ayhan Aktar (Hrant Dink Foundation, Secondment) who will offer me optimal research environment and training opportunities. The activities conducted within IhaNeT will allow me to establish myself as an internationally recognized and independent scholar with developed project management skills.