Tailoring Quotations to Audiences: Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at Youth and Muhtar Meetings

Based on the records of the Republic of Türkiye’s Presidency’s webpages, this chapter presents a comprehensive account of two collections of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s speeches during his presidency (August 2014–present): the entirety of his speeches to youth and at muhtar (local district managers) meetingsMuhtar (local district managers) meetings. Specifically, this study captures direct quotationsQuotationsdirect in Erdoğan’s speeches and analyzes who Erdoğan quotesQuotes. It is evident that Erdoğan relies on a relatively common repertoire; he most frequently quotes Mehmet Akif ErsoyMehmet Akif and Necip Fazil KisakurekNecip Fazil. Erdoğan’s quotations during his meetings with youth illustrate his desire to help develop a particular mold for Turkish youth. Erdoğan relies heavily on Mehmet Akif in his meetings with the youth and muhtars and less so on Necip Fazil when he meets with the muhtar community. Overall, with both audiences Erdoğan’s direct quotationsQuotationsdirect are nationalist with concrete religious connotations.