Organized by ASULIS Discourse, Dialog, Democracy Laboratory of Hrant Dink Foundation and moderated by İlksen Mavituna, the talk on Tanıl Bora’s latest book Zamanın Kelimeleri: Yeni Türkiye’nin Siyasî Dili [Words of our Times: Political Discourse of the New Turkey] was held on March 1, 2018 in Havak Hall.

İlksen Mavituna brought up the notion of “words” in Tanıl Bora’s work for discussion by way of touching on the meanings of the words and how they direct people. Tanıl Bora said that the words he covered in his book are like stones thrown at us, but they can also be regarded as pebbles by the sea, which will be eroded in time and maybe disappear after all. Bora stated that his purpose was to show how a word with no background can be made popular and used as if it refers to an unquestionable truth. Stating that there is no political examination concerning the meanings and connotations of the words that he included in his work, Bora noted that we should not take these words as data, we should not use them if possible or use them in a reversed manner. Claiming that accepting these words as natural is a serious problem, Bora stated that hhe tried to carry out a political examination in this work.

“Tanıl Bora, in his book Zamanın Kelimeleri: Yeni Türkiye’nin Siyasî Dili, traces the idioms, phrases, slogans and commonplace remarks which are repeatedly used in the political world of the recent history. He reveals that how words and phrases that are used without questioning might cease to be “the words of the ruling power” and become natural and sometimes take root even in the mind of the opposition.

Examining the prevailing meanings and functions of the words can contribute to creating a repertoire of mentality. It is an effort to draw an ideological meaning map. Besides, it unfolds into a search for the other allusions embedded in these commonplace remarks and sometimes for the lost meanings.”