Digital Networks and the Transformation of Civil Society Taksim Solidarity in Post-Gezi Turkey

Introduction: From Gezi to Digital Afterlife Chapter 1: How Digital Networks Have Changed Social Movements Chapter 2: Turkey’s Political Landscape and the Legacy of Gezi Chapter 3: Fragmented Networks: Internal Cohesion in Taksim Solidarity Chapter 4: Communication with the Supporter Base Chapter 5: The Communicative Organization: Internal Digital Strategy and Discourse Alignment Chapter 6: Big Disconnection: Structural Barriers to Digital Cohesion Epilogue: Lessons on Digital Infrastructure and Civic Durability

Biography

Can Türe is a lecturer in the Media department of Istanbul Bilgi University, Turkey. He holds a doctorate from Middle East Technical University. He was a DAAD doctoral fellow at the Center of Comparative Research on Democracy of the Humboldt University in Berlin. With an interdisciplinary background in communication and political science, his research focuses on online social movements, digital activism, Turkish politics and media. His work blends computational methods with qualitative inquiry to investigate the long-term dynamics of social movements.

'Türe’s timely study provides us with a realistic assessment of the role played by digital networks and particularly the internet in light of Turkey’s massive Gezi protests and ensuing Taksim Solidarity movement. It is a warning against naive optimism and cynical dismissal.'

- Emeritus Prof. Haluk Şahin, Istanbul Bilgi University

'The Gezi protests in Istanbul in May/June 2013 and their systemic political repercussions in modern Turkey have been, and continue to be, the subject of numerous historical and political science analyses. They are worth understanding because - triggered by very concrete issues -they draw attention to a historically intensified constellation of political and ideological oppositions: on the one hand, a socio-cultural awakening at the surface level, and on the other hand, the consolidation of the traditionally entrenched establishment within the deeper systemic structures and streams.

The academically rigorous research conducted by Can Ture, presented in this book, offers a profound, differentiated, and critically examined perspective. It not only explains the external historical and logical interconnections, but also analyzes - on the basis of media and political theory - the internal dynamics of the mutual reinforcement between political participation and social-media-driven protest activism, as exemplified by the political-communicative practices of the Taksim Solidarity (TS) movement. In doing so, he proposes an epistemological approach that can be described as both fundamentally scholarly and methodologically critical.

The originality of Can Ture’s contribution to political science lies in its media- and socio-analytical focus on the TS movement and in the resulting examination of the criteria by which one may assess whether and how spontaneous protests (“flash mobilization”) can develop into politically relevant long-term movements. The fact that this sensitive topic in modern Turkey is addressed in a scientifically critical manner by a Turkish scholar gives the book additional significance for understanding the opportunities and challenges of the political and cultural climate in contemporary Turkey.'

- Emeritus Prof. Thomas A. Bauer, University of Vienna / European Society for Education and Communication (ESEC)