THE PRESENTATION OF DOOMSDAY PROPHECY IN ISLAMIC TURKISH PRESS: THE SAMPLE OF MAYAN CALENDAR, 21ST DECEMBER 2012

Abstract

It is undoubted that one of the events that have left its mark on 2012 is the claim of Mayan Calendar’s Doomsday Prophecy which was thought to happen on 21st December. According to Mayan Calendar, the Doomsday would occur as a result of Earth's collision with a planet called Marduk at 13.11 on 21st December 2012 and two places on earth would not be affected from this collision. One of the places which was proposed not to be affected by the Doomsday was Şirince, a village in İzmir, Turkey and the other one was Bugarash town in France. This prophecy which was believed to happen by a great majority of people all around the world marked 21st December 2012 as an important date. It was claimed that at this date many people would flock into Şirince and Bugarash and it was followed by the world press curiously. 21st December Doomsday Prophecy of Mayan Calendar which was followed by the whole world also became an important agenda topic in Turkey. The reason for this is that Şirince was one of the places which would not be affected by the Doomsday. Although it became an important current issue in Turkey, the number of people who believed in this prophecy was very few in Turkey, a country with % 99 Muslim population. 21st December Doomsday Prophecy of Mayan Calendar became a popular topic in Turkish press. The latest news about this event were announced to public both on TV channels with live broadcasts and on newspapers. How 21st December Doomsday Prophecy of Mayan Calendar was approached and mentioned in Islamic newspapers of Turkey, where the majority of population is Muslim, became a subject to be analyzed. Therefore, this study aims to analyze how Doomsday Prophecy of Mayan Calendar was presented on Islamic press. To determine how Islamic press took this prophecy seriously and how it was presented are among the objectives of this study. In the study, news and columns which are the basic materials of the newspapers with an Islamic identity in Turkey were analyzed. Any kind of news and columns about this topic in the newspapers were analyzed without considering their page. The event’s holding the front page has become another aspect analyzed in this study. The study was only limited to newspapers with an Islamic identity, other kinds of publications were not included. Newspapers which were analyzed are; Zaman, Sabah, Yeni Şafak, Yeni Asya, Milli Gazete, Yeni Akit, Türkiye, Bugün ve Star. The reason for analyzing newspapers with an Islamic identity stems from the fact that this event has made a religious phenomenon a current issue. It is undoubted that this situation has made the topic more appealing. The study was limited to newspapers which were published between 22nd November and 22nd December. The reason for this limitation was that the news about Doomsday Prophecy of Mayan Calendar were mostly on the agenda between these dates. In the study, critical discourse analysis was used in order to analyze how discourse about the prophecy was produced. Critical discourse analysis is an important analysis in terms of revealing the hidden message formed in the news. The fact that analyzing the columns and the topic requires some comment have made it necessary to use critical discourse analysis in this study.