New Media and Political Participation: 15 July Case

Abstract

New Media; has been described as one of the means that has strengthened democracy in recent years in terms of facilitating the interactions in many local, national and international social and political events and facilitating the political participation of the communities. Compared with traditional media platforms, it is also observed that the new media, which facilitates and accelerates the political participation of citizens, has changed social behavior patterns accordingly. While the traditional media in Turkish political history are mainly used as legitimation of coups and as a means of digesting the society, it can be said that the new media had the opposite function in 15 July case. This study examines the role of new media in the social response and political participation during the coup attempt process of 15 July 2016 and examines the effect of new media platforms on the change in social behavior patterns through the example of July 15.