Fear of Another World: An Introduction to the Anti-Vegan Conspiracy Theories in Turkey
For the past twenty years, despite numerous negative events in Turkey and the world at large, there has been at least one significant positive change. The vegan movement, initiated by a handful of activists in 1944, has gained momentum since the beginning of the 21st century, spreading worldwide. Turkey is one of the regions where veganism is spreading the fastest and most determinedly. This is certainly not a coincidence. When it comes to relations with animals, Turkey holds a much more peaceful stance compared to many countries around the world. Those who come to Turkey from countries where street animals are collected and exterminated are often astounded by the care shown to street animals here. Establishing this peaceful relationship with domesticated animals living on the streets makes it not so hard to establish the same with animals exploited for food, clothing, experiments, and other purposes. Moreover, in Turkey, the mainstream animal movement’s approach that focuses on donations and funds for animal welfare has been strongly criticized, leading to an emphasis on veganism and individual responsibility, making this change possible. For this reason, veganism is rapidly spreading in Turkey regardless of political positions, economic status, and social identities.
This societal transformation is a crucial and necessary change for animal rights and offers hope among all the negativity. Furthermore, when we think of its potential contribution to solving serious problems like climate change, food access and distribution challenges, pollution and depletion of water resources, and prevalent health issues like cardiovascular diseases, this transformation appears even more positive.
However, there are those who view this societal change with concern, and some who combine this concern with various conspiracy theories, attempting to take it out of context. A common trait of these conspiracy theories is that they refuse to understand all societal transformations, driven both by historical conditions and activist efforts, in their own reality. Instead, they describe all these as plans of some mysterious great powers. These so-called mysterious powers have intriguing and dark names like globalists and new-worlders. They are used to explain women’s rights, identity movements, environmental movements, and any other critique of the world’s current state. Lately, the animal rights movement and veganism have also been incorporated into this narrative.
Anti-Vegan Red Pill
In a Youtube interview, Dr. Canan Karatay argues that after expressing respect for the philosophy of vegetarianism, veganism was introduced in the 1950s as a precursor to the lab-grown meat project. She has made this claim numerous times elsewhere too. The basis for this claim and the specifics of this vegetarian philosophy remain unclear. Considering that vegetarians, like vegans, reject animal meat, it’s puzzling why these supposed global dark powers would initiate a vegan movement in the 1950s, including other animal products like milk and eggs, rather than building on existing vegetarianism. Furthermore, the opposition of many vegans to cell-based meat production further undermines this narrative. According to Karatay, there are forces trying to “destroy us, destroy the country,” and one of their many plots includes lab-grown meat and falsely promoting veganism to back this initiative.
Another example is Haşmet Babaoğlu, a columnist for the pro-government Sabah newspaper, who frequently writes about the proliferation of plant-based products. From his writings, Babaoğlu, who seems fine consuming products sold by major global fast-food and coffee chains, feels we lose touch with nature once the burger patty or milk in the coffee is plant-based, claiming that we’re falling into the traps of global companies. He observes a plant-based burger with meat flavor being sold in a restaurant (we all know this simply means it has spices commonly used in meat) and writes:
“We say ‘the new world’… we struggle saying ‘characteristics of thousands of years of human history are being changed.’ But our attention constantly gets scattered with daily hustles. Naturally, it becomes challenging to realize that all these initiatives are to fundamentally change production processes. I fear… by the time change arrives, we’ll have already been conditioned.”
According to Babaoğlu, the transition to plant-based food is just another phase of artificiality in the food industry. Just as fruit juices containing fruit flavors have replaced actual fruits, plant-based burgers are in the same category. Of course, it’s not a secret that many foods we consider natural today are the results of hybridization and domestication practices conducted over previous centuries. But Babaoğlu draws the distinction between natural and artificial based on what’s familiar and unfamiliar to him. And why offering both animal-based and plant-based burgers in a fast-food chain would “fundamentally change production processes” remains a mystery [1]. Yet, he seems convinced that there’s a grand, dark plot behind these changes and seems to be effective in inducing a sense of unease among his readers, even if he doesn’t clearly explain why change is bad.
You might be wondering why these mysterious global powers want people to gravitate towards plant-based diets. Youtuber and Twitter influencer Abdullah Çiftçi offers an answer. He believes the goal is to change human nature to fit into a digital world project. Humanity will be rendered controllable through basic income, a cashless society, vaccines, chips, and veganism, not by controlling them through a chip, but by capturing their souls and minds. Çiftçi predicts the near future based on his analysis: mainstream publications like The Economist will link the coronavirus pandemic and climate change to livestock farming, steering humans toward plant-based diets and robotics, thereby guiding them toward transhumanism.
Ufuk Çoşkun, a columnist for conservative Milat Newspaper, also expresses this notion:
“They are directly intervening in the human genome. They want to control humans from within. Let me clearly tell you their intention. They aim to seize the human spirit that they don’t possess but we do. Hence, we must guard our minds and souls.”
These claims merge with climate change denialism, which became popular during the election campaign of Donald Trump, the 45th President of the USA, but has a more extended history. Çoşkun, for instance, posits in another article that climate change is a false narrative propagated by globalist scientists, backing this claim by pointing to the unfulfilled doomsday scenarios regarding the ozone layer from the 1990s. Yet, with basic research, one could discover that the alarming ozone depletion caused by CFC gases, found in many products from deodorants to refrigerators, was addressed by the global community through the 1987 Montreal Protocol. Humanity, with the aid of science, had acted collectively to avert a disaster. Denying the current issue by pointing to past successful interventions far from being intellectually honest.
Çoşkun announces the future green world being vegan as if he’s proclaiming a catastrophe and labels this future as a dictatorship. Appearing on the same YouTube channel as Dr. Karatay, Çoşkun states that there’s no such thing as climate change[2]. On one hand, he speaks against the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer, while on the other hand, he promotes the climate change denial desired by the large oil and livestock companies in the world that wish to maintain the status quo
In his article titled “Geliyorlar” (They Are Coming), Babaoğlu references Yıldırım’s blog where Yıldırım claims that lab-grown meat is becoming widespread (!?) and that along with veganism, humanity is being reverted to a hunter-gatherer lifestyle (!??).
It must be acknowledged that lab-grown meat, which entered the scene just a few years ago, has now become quite prevalent. Along with this, new elements of vegan consumption are being added; fish from seaweeds, meatballs from plants, and lahmacun (Turkish pizza) from vegetables are being presented as “healthier, tastier, and more delightful.” The global ideology that argues a cow pollutes the world excessively with its carbon emissions and thus damages nature, offers vegan consumption as an alternative, playing with people’s minds; frankly, they seem to be succeeding! Instead of raising people’s economic status and enabling them to consume more meat, reducing their income and directing them back to a hunter-gatherer lifestyle and towards veganism stands at the forefront of the new blackmailing ideology’s semantic maps. After all, experts and doctors who claim we consume three times the globally recommended amount of meat can always be found.
Yıldırım perceives the potential consequences of the current consumption culture continuing as it is as forms of blackmail. For instance, when assertions are made that the consumption of animal products leads to water pollution and difficulties in accessing food, and accelerates the breeding and evolution of viruses and bacteria that cause epidemics, these claims are considered as blackmail. From this perspective, one might also perceive a doctor, who warns a patient during a check-up that continued smoking increases the risk of lung cancer, as engaging in blackmail based on cause-and-effect relationships.
According to Yıldırım, even referring to cats and dogs as “our little friends” is part of a grand scheme. He criticizes the hedonism of the consumer society, yet bases his resistance on defending indulgences, even if they lead to destruction.
The narratives suggest that we’re not really breeding and slaughtering over 60 billion terrestrial animals annually for food, using a quarter of the Earth’s land for livestock farming, depleting water resources, or fostering environments where viruses and bacteria can mutate rapidly. All these facts are presented as if they’re part of some fictional narrative or conspiracy. On Youtube, Ferda Yıldırım confidently laughs off the claim that cows contribute to global warming, saying, “Such a ridiculous claim, right?” Yet, when the effects of climate change manifest, the same individuals claim global forces are creating artificial disasters and fake scarcities!
Global Conservatism
These narratives are not unique to Turkey. In fact, most are imported from the American alt-right, then blended with local themes and fear scenarios before being presented. For example, Çoşkun, who appeared on Yıldırım’s program, gathers various topics like mask mandates, plant-based meat, the HES code system, and vaccinations under one umbrella, proclaiming in the vein of, “For the sake of preserving my human dignity, I won’t adhere to any of these,” echoing a meme often shared on the social media platform 4chan, known as a hub for the far-right due to its anonymous posting feature.
For those following the agenda in U.S. politics, all these writings won’t come as a major surprise. Recently, the rhetoric popular in American right-wing politics during the Cold War years — “the communists will take everything from us, even our toothbrushes” — has been reintroduced. The neoconservatives or the alternative right have updated these narratives, this time targeting groups named as globalists, ‘wokes’, SJWs, cultural Marxists, and even the Antichrist. The fear scenarios hinted at in newspaper columns are openly spoken about on platforms like Twitter; this time the ‘evil ones’ are eyeing our “meat dishes”, and if they succeed, our children will be next!
The American alternative right, especially through popular figures like Jordan Peterson and Ben Shapiro (who was revealed to be funded by Texan billionaires), managed to reach broad audiences. These figures collectively categorize movements like the socialist left, environmental activists, and identity movements, which all share a critical approach to the current economic and cultural order and work for societal change, under the umbrella of cultural Marxism (Marxism was probably chosen to evoke Cold War fears). By doing this, they simplify complex and multifaceted issues into a dichotomy of ‘us’ versus ‘the malicious enemies’, presenting nostalgic narratives about the past. By promoting scare scenarios, they deflect scrutiny and prevent their own narratives from being challenged. We can recall that Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan also resonated with this ideological backdrop and found success.
In their books examining the socio-psychological processes underlying people’s political ideologies and stances, Alper and Yılmaz found that the driving force behind conservative ideologies, which resist new developments and values, is the perception of the world as a chaotic and worrisome place. Any change, even if it promises to eradicate current inequalities, is received with suspicion and resistance. Therefore, while left-liberal and social-democratic policies gain supporters by promising change for a better world, conservative policies appeal to society by promising stability and the preservation of values.
During the pandemic, both vaccination and lockdown processes were conducted arbitrarily and lacked transparency, resulting in these adapted narratives finding more resonance in Turkey than ever before. The presence of a popular culture inclined to conspiracy theories and narratives about secret world-controlling forces facilitated the rapid spread of this narrative. Moreover, both the course of the pandemic and the ensuing significant economic downturn have made us perceive the world as more chaotic and frightening than ever. Hence, these narratives can attract more followers than ever before.
New Era and New Threats
Social psychologist Sergei Moscovici is known for his studies that focused on the influence of minorities on majorities, a shift from the traditional research that mainly explored the influence of majorities on minorities. One crucial condition for a minority group, like vegans, to spread their ideas in society is not being perceived as an external force or threat. When a group is both in a minority position and perceived as motivated by external sinister forces, it’s termed a “double minority” [3]. In such scenarios, the diffusion of the minority group’s ideas becomes challenging, leading many to dismiss these ideas without consideration. That’s why those wanting to hinder these minorities often accuse them of being puppets for foreign powers or having ulterior motives.
Veganism is based on a simple premise: if it’s wrong to harm and kill animals needlessly, we can’t continue to eat, wear, and use them merely for pleasure or out of habit. Most people are against causing unnecessary harm or death to animals. Once many people learn that animal products aren’t necessary for survival or maintaining health, they find veganism consistent with their moral values and embrace it. This connection is pretty clear when examined without any interference. The rapid spread of veganism is due to this clarity.
However, these proliferating conspiracy theories aim to blur the connection between our moral values concerning animals and veganism, attempting to discredit the message about veganism.
In the U.S., where major oil companies (and quite possibly the livestock lobby) support Republican conspiracy theorists, these doom scenarios will continue to be translated and localized into Turkish as long as they find an audience. We see the effects of this form of politics in various facets: the opposition to the Istanbul Convention, the banning of books, the anti-LGBT rhetoric post-2015, and in many areas of public space. The vegan cheese bans in Turkey also indicate that these narratives might have legal and political implications related to veganism and animal rights.
We must be aware of these developments and be prepared for the rhetorical battles in this new era.
Notes
[1] Of course, another looming question is: do we genuinely want the current global capitalist production system, which leads to serious inequalities and injustices worldwide, to remain unchanged?
[2] In the same broadcast, Çoşkun also suggests that the Covid-19 pandemic and the global food access problem are artificially created, just like climate change.
[3] Kağıtçıbaşı, Ç. & Cemalcılar, Z. (2014). People and People from Yesterday to Today: An Introduction to Social Psychology. Evrim Publications. pp. 284–285.
