Sense Experiences

This article provides an account of how sense experiences are drawn into processes of contest over the boundaries of citizenship and belonging. Based on ethnographic research in Istanbul and Ankara, it examines the ruptures of the 2016 failed coup attempt in Turkey. Particular forms of listening emerged in Western urban centers, newly attuned to sounds of warfare commingled with Islamic melodic devotionals ordered by state officials. Unique and pronounced engagements with bodily liquids accompanied the handling and placement of the dead. The multi-sensory experiences of Muslim women municipal employees who wash and shroud the deceased elucidated the foundational roles of scent and body weight in constituting martyrdom. This article demonstrates how the body politic operates—with various forms of acquiescence and repudiation—through sound, smell, and touch.

Sudan coup attempt may reopen political faultlines

Significance Military and civilian leaders within the current power-sharing government have since accused each other of creating the conditions that prompted the coup, in an escalating confrontation over security sector reform that risks becoming a greater threat to the transition than the coup attempt itself. Impacts The more aggressively the commission established to dismantle the former regime conducts its work, the more the risk of coups will rise. Concrete guarantees of immunity for past crimes could encourage some (but not all) military leaders to consider more serious reforms. Civilian leaders might revive discussions shelved last year about creating a new internal security organ under civilian control.

Questioning the Compass of the Western Media: Early Perceptions of the July 15 Coup Attempt in Turkey

This study investigates how the Western media reacted immediately after the July 15, 2016 coup attempt in Turkey, in which a group of armed forces loyal to FETÖ aimed to overthrow Turkey’s democratically elected government. To this end, 91 news reports and articles in ten newspapers from the U.S., the UK, Germany, and France, dating from July 15 to July 18, 2016, were analyzed. Based on content analysis, the early perceptions of the Western media were categorized by sentiment as positive, neutral, or negative in terms of their tone, feeling, and emotion regarding the coup attempt. The findings show that only 42 publications were neutral only reporting the news, while 44 publications were positive about the coup attempt favoring the junta and failing to support the democratically elected government. On the other hand, only five publications expressed negative opinions about the coup attempt by showing strong support for democracy and expressing anti-coup views. Frequency analysis also shows that the most commonly used keywords and phrases in the news and articles were Erdoğan’s authoritarianism (58 times), the polarization of society (32 times), Erdoğan’s oppression (28 times), Erdoğan dividing the country (16 times), and the instability of Erdoğan’s regime/dictatorship (15 times). Overall, the analysis shows that journalists are not free of bias; most of them missed or neglected the damaging consequences of the coup attempt on Turkish democracy and society due to their negative perceptions about the incumbent government.

The impact of decree laws on the performance of Turkish physiology academics: A repeated cross-sectional study

Objectives This study aimed to describe the academic losses resulting from the Turkish purge and associated dismissals with the decree laws following the failed coup attempt in 2016 concerning physiology academics. Methods An observational study was conducted covering the time before 2008, 2009–2012, 2013–2016, and 2017–2020. All actively-working assistant, associate, and full professors of physiology in Turkey as of 15th July 2016 and recently hired academic staff after the coup attempt in 2016 were included in the study. Data collection was performed in December 2020. The primary outcome variable of the study was the total number of publications listed in Google Scholar. Results Data of 271 academics were analyzed. Of the participants, 209 (87.1%) continued on their positions, 31 (12.9%) were dismissed after the 2016 coup attempt, and 31 were hired after the purge. The number of publications of scholars hired before 2016 and dismissed were significantly higher before 2008, between 2009 and 2012, and between 2013 and 2016 compared to scholars hired before 2016 and not purged (p < 0.05). Also, the total number of citations, H-index, and i10-index values were significantly better in the purged individuals (p < 0.05). Although the purged academics had relatively higher performance indicators in the previous years, they experienced a 44.2% loss in the number of publications after 2016. Conclusion The mass dismissals after the coup attempt in 2016 harmed individual physiology academics as well as the general physiology academy. International academic and human rights organizations must be more sensitive to protect scholars who undergo similar persecutions.

Niger's image of stability is under threat

Significance On March 21, jihadists killed 137 people in the Tahoua region and another 58 a week earlier in the Tillaberi region. Insurgent violence is the top security challenge for new President Mohamed Bazoum, who took office on April 2 following a reported coup attempt and a disputed election whose conclusion was marked by violent protests. Impacts The capital Niamey is likely to remain encircled by unstable areas, limiting foreigners’ and locals’ freedom of movement outside the city. Attacks in Niamey are also possible. The ruling party is relatively unpopular in Tillaberi and Niamey, and Bazoum may face further protests as the situation deteriorates.

Instead of a Conclusion

The concluding chapter turns to more recent encounters between Turkey and Germany in the form of artist exchanges and “intercultural dialogue,” showing how these programs continue to feed into asymmetric perceptions. The chapter reiterates that analyzing the historical entanglements of Turkey and Germany through decivilizing moments unsettles the asymmetric perception between “Western” and “non-Western” art. It argues that the emancipatory potential of art lies in accounting for rather than trying to reconcile the contradictions in the workings of the art world discussed in the study. The postscript surveys some recent developments (2015–2020): the coup attempt, the surge of political violence and war, the curtailing of democratic structures and human rights in Turkey; and the rise of the far right and new museum mega-projects that aim to resurrect a glorious past with colonial collections of questionable provenance in Germany. These developments not only engender attacks on artistic memory but present new iterations of the sway that ideas of “national art” hold in politics. The cases of Istanbul and Berlin continue to provide insights into how—under the impetus of rising nationalism around the world—local formations of the global art world are being called back into the nation frame.

How Did Donald Trump Incite a Coup Attempt?

On 6 January 2021, supporters of Donald Trump after a Trump rally stormed the Capitol. This article asks: How Did Donald Trump incite a coup attempt? The presented research analyses parts of a dataset consisting of Trump’s most recent 8,736 tweets as well as Trump’s speech given at the rally that preceded the storming of the Capitol.The article shows how Trump’s speech and use of Twitter triggered violence and that the coup was the consequence of a long chain of events that unfolded as a consequence of Trump’s authoritarian ideology, personality, and practices.