The Opposition's Populism Against Populist Power. A Comparative Study on the 2023 Presidential Elections in Turkey

This study examines the populist rhetoric of Turkish leaders Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu during the 2023 electoral campaign, using a mixed-method approach, in which the quantitative analysis gauges the intensity of populist language across various texts, while qualitative analysis addresses context-specific terms and nuances missed by automated methods. By integrating both methods, the study aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of how populism is constructed and deployed in Turkish political discourse, and how recurring rhetorical patterns emerge in the leaders' speeches which are characterized by different shades of populism.