ABSTRACT

Conspiracy theories were long seen as belonging exclusively to the “fringe” and the extreme right, safely remote from the mainstream and a part of the political spectrum that was seen to have been effectively excluded from the legitimate political space since the end of World War II. Conspiracy theories themselves may be hollow and absurd, but the fact that a sizable proportion of the public, including the well-educated, believe them, makes them a salient subject for rigorous academic study. Turkish conspiracy theories replicated the Counter-Enlightenment conspiracy theories followed by the trend-setting Protocols of Elders of Zion account amid the imperial retreat and the fear of national obliteration that burgeoned in the late 19th century. The birth of conspiracy theories related to Jews and Freemasons can be dated to the early 20th century and benefited from the Zionist demands to settle in the then–Ottoman territory of Palestine and the idiosyncratic community of Donme.