The making of the TRT historical-political series: state television and political communication in Turkey

The transformation of Turkey’s state TV broadcaster TRT from a secularist mainstream media to an Islamist-nationalist government propaganda tool paralleled Turkey’s democratic backsliding. Using critical discourse analysis tools, this study contends that the AKP administration simulates its contemporary political narrative in the past through the establishment of a new historic-political TV series, on state television. As control over the media increased following the 15 July 2016 coup attempt, mainstreaming the government’s popular discourse through the topoi of ‘survival’ and ‘spoiling the plot’ has become a common theme in that narrative.