Safeguarding the epistemic sphere: The learning mechanisms of journalists and academics opposing autocratisation in Türkiye

This article explores the learning mechanisms adopted by selected journalists and Academics for Peace to resist autocratisation in Türkiye between 2015 and 2022. It argues that these ‘social resisters’ have learned to oppose shrinking epistemic spaces, delegitimation and judicial harassment by navigating the uncertainty resulting from the co-existence of autocratic and democratic elements. Autocratisation’s constraints have been the main drive behind their actions, resulting in a variety of creative ways to challenge the regime’s narrative and epistemic domination. However, these actors have also shaped their forms of dissent by learning through their own and other resistance actors’ experiences, by identifying the opportunities provided by domestic and supranational legal frameworks, the regime’s pursuit of external legitimation and its formal commitment to the Council of Europe.