A Critical Analysis of Ümit Özdağ's X Posts within the Framework of the General Discourse of the Populist Radical Right

The aim of this study is to analyse the posts made by Victory Party (Zafer Partisi / ZP) leader Ümit Özdağ from his personal account on the X platform with reference to some of the concepts that populist radical right ideology produces discourse around. In this context, the analysis of Özdağ's X posts within the framework of the general discourse of the populist radical right is important for understanding how the populist radical right discourse is reproduced locally. In this study, the method of critical discourse analysis was applied to discuss the ideological meaning of the discourses formed around the concepts. In particular, the concepts of immigrants/refugees, Islam and nation have been selected with reference to the discourses put forward by the populist radical right-wing movements on the rise in Europe, and Özdağ's X posts have been analysed through these concepts. The analysis has been conducted on the concepts of immigrants/refugees, Islam and nation. Özdağ's discourses largely overlap with the populist radical right ideology on migrants and refugees. However, Özdağ's discourse differs from the general discourse of the populist radical right on Islam and the nation at certain points. On the issue of Islam, Özdağ, unlike Western right-wing populists, criticises the cultural practices of Muslims rather than categorically rejecting Islam. By highlighting Turkish nationalism, Özdağ reproduces anti-immigrant discourses within this framework. While the populist radical right has recently produced discourse through civic nationalism rather than discourse based on ethnicity, some of Özdağ's X posts evoke ethnic nationalism.