Introduction

In the introduction, I put forward the questions this book seeks to answer; What lies behind the enduring success of AKP rule in Turkey? What role do the politics of emotions play in this success? What does AKP’s Neo-Ottomanist narrative, and the symbols it uses, convey to the Turkish nation? And what does it demand from its recipients? Why has the narrative been embraced by certain sections of Turkish society, and what are the emotional needs and urges behind this? And, finally, how do the emotions around the narrative bring together the past, the present and the future, while creating a new national mood in society? Through the answers to these questions, this book will interrogate two decades of the AKP rule with a specific focus on politics of emotions.