Revolutionary identity before and after state violence: transformations in Turkish left political consciousness following the 1980 coup.

Abstract

This psychosocial study, grounded in a psychoanalytically informed approach to state violence, examines how state violence during Turkey's 1980 military coup and subsequent three-year junta period impacted leftist political identities and activism. Through in-depth interviews with 23 former political prisoners who experienced torture and mistreatment, the research explores the transformation of political consciousness and social relationships following systematic state violence, while documenting their first-hand testimonies. The findings first establish the context of revolutionary identities before the coup, examining how family environments, social experiences, and community networks contributed to political consciousness. Building on this foundation, the research then investigates how experiences of state violence transformed these established identities and relationships. While most participants maintained their core political ideologies, the study suggests that the systematic application of violence, particularly involving large group symbols and social isolation, significantly affected how they could express and sustain their political beliefs. Where revolutionary activists had once enjoyed organic connections with communities and could mobilize broad-based support, they found themselves increasingly isolated and unable to rebuild these social bonds in the post-coup period. The research suggests that the damage of state violence reached beyond physical repression: it also dismantled the social bonds that had previously sustained political activism. The study examines how the military regime's use of large group symbols during detention and imprisonment created an alienation from symbols that once represented belonging and unity. The analysis suggests that these practices, alongside discourse strategies that positioned activists outside legitimate political boundaries, may have contributed to how these activists perceived and sustained their political engagement in the post-coup period. These insights, enriched by survivors' perspectives contribute to the understanding of how systematic state violence can reshape political consciousness and behavior, while also bringing out the complex psychological mechanisms through which political identities persist or transform under conditions of extreme repression.