Religious Metaphors in Public Speeches of Turkish Politicians

Religion is an integral part of culture of the Turkish people. An important feature of the cultural and socio-political sphere of Turkey is the frequent use of expressions with religious content, among which metaphor is prominent. This study investigates religious metaphors used by Turkish politicians. The data analysis is carried out on the basis of the material obtained by means of a self-compiled corpus, which consists of public speeches of Turkish politicians (e.g., the President, deputies, and leaders of the main political parties of Turkey) for the period of 2010-2019. The paper claims that the core religious beliefs of the Turks have a great impact on the way they see and perceive the surrounding reality, which is reflected in metaphorical expressions they use. Therefore, Turkish politicians often associate other political figures, political processes, and events of social and political life with religious characters, episodes, and phenomena. This principle formed the basis of the model of “Social and Political Reality is Religion” for its analysis on the metaphoric expressions. The analysis suggests that metaphor is a significant tool of representing Islamic ethics in Turkish public discourse. Despite the fact that a religious metaphoric model is often characterized by positive emotionality, the aforementioned model has both positive and negative connotations.


Introduction
Metaphor has long been the focus of scholars of various fields of knowledge and has become the subject of research not only of philological sciences, which predominantly interpret it as a stylistic figure, but also of those sciences exploring consciousness, conceptual system, mind, etc. It was through a cognitive linguistic view on metaphor that expanded the notion and its implication. Within this perspective, conceptual metaphor provides a new perspective on the understanding of human thought and its manifestation in social and political life.
As noted by Gandolfo (2019), the modern Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) is characterized by a new systematic study of the processes of metaphorization. An important place in this field belongs to semantics, the main object of which is meaning. The key idea of CMT is that metaphorical rethinking takes place under the conditions of the cognitive (thinking) process, during which the speaker establishes the relationship between two referents (often logically incompatible), and thus metaphor appears (Stickles et al., 2016, p. 168). This relationship is based on common features between two referents and is reflected in the structure of the lexical meaning. Kövecses (2005), we interpret metaphor as a means of reproduction in the language of the process of transferring knowledge from one conceptual sphere into another on the basis of association or similarity, which is able to reflect a national culture and national mentality. Such a definition is key to our research, because the present study deals with the linguocultural specificity of metaphors in public speeches of Turkish politicians. It is the linguocultural approach that makes it possible to reveal the patterns of metaphorical modeling of the language image of the world in the discourse of Turkish politics (Polova, 2018, p. 78).

2005). Consequently, inspired by
It should be emphasized that metaphor is given a significant place in political culture, which is also a part of the general culture and cultural heritage. Musolff persuades that since pragmatic and emotional impacts on an addressee are the most important functions of political speech, metaphor is considered to be the most productive tool of such an influence (2004, p. 9). Moreover, taking into consideration the fact that our social experiences are organized in terms of metaphors, politics, being a part of the social domain, should also be perceived and constructed metaphorically (ibid., p. 2).
Analyzing political metaphors, Perrez notes that they contain information on the assessment, feelings, and attitudes of a speaker (neglect, respect, admiration, etc.) (2015, p. 166). Such integration of evaluation and emotionality in semantics of metaphor makes it a means of expressiveness. In addition, Musolff (2019) emphasizes the importance of the cognitive function of the metaphor and claims that it is based on the ability of human thought to cause analogies, and it is a scheme by which a person thinks and acts. Thus, with the help of a metaphor, a certain model of political reality is created and links between its elements are established.
Nevertheless, within the framework of the linguocultural paradigm much less attention is paid to the study of political metaphor despite the undeniable fact that the language of politics is an integral part of the language of the entire culture. Moreover, religion and belief in the existence of Allah always had a profound significance for the Muslim countries. Therefore, religion is an inalienable component of the culture of the Turkish people; and an important feature of the cultural and sociopolitical sphere of Turkey is the frequent use of expressions of religious content, among which a prominent role belongs to metaphor. Further, it should be noted that in the world Turkology the issue of religious metaphors in Turkish linguoculture and political communication is undeservedly out of the attention of linguists, which determines the relevance of our study.

Methodological framework
The aim of the present research is to identify and analyze religious metaphors in public speeches of Turkish politicians and reveal the way metaphors reflect the Turkish culture and their influence on the way the Turkish people see the surrounding reality. Therefore, one of the key methods of this study is based on a corpus-driven Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA) developed by Charteris-Black (see 2.2 for detailed description). Corpus-driven studies use the corpus as a source of data to support the hypothesis about the language and are supposed to be primary in researching metaphors, because a corpus provides a collection of texts that reflect the real instances of language use in order to explain the particular conceptual metaphors (Charteris-Black, 2004, p. 34). Accordingly, a corpus of metaphors is understood as a selected group of metaphors, extracted according to certain rules from various sources and brought together so that linguists can study them, identifying objectively existing patterns (including quantitative) (Chudinov, 2013, p. 67).

Data collection procedure
In the present study, the data analysis is carried out on the basis of the material obtained by means of a self-compiled corpus. The corpus of the study consists of written public speeches (texts of public speeches and pre-election speeches) of Turkish politicians for the period of 2010-2019, the full versions of which were retrieved from the online sources that are included to the reference list of this research.

Data analysis procedures
The collected empirical data were analyzed by using Metaphor Identification Procedure (MIP) developed by a group of metaphor researchers and companies named the Pragglejaz Group (2007), and two stages of CMA (Charteris-Black, 2004) that are Metaphor Interpretation and Metaphor Explanation respectively.
It is worth mentioning that CMA was developed on the basis of the methodology of metaphor analysis presented by Cameron and Low (1999). The methodology includes the following three stages: (i) collecting examples of linguistic metaphors, (ii) generalizing them to conceptual metaphors they represent, (iii) using the results to suggest insights and thought patterns that construct or restrict people's beliefs and actions (1999, p. 81-88). Consequently, CMA of Charteris-Black (2004) also consists of three major stages: Metaphor Identification, Metaphor Interpretation, and Metaphor Explanation. However, an adapted version of MIP of the Pragglejaz Group (2007) is considered to be more profound for the present study.
To identify metaphoric expressions in the collected data with the help of MIP, the following steps were performed: (i) reading of the entire transcript of a political speech in order to get a general understanding of the meaning, (ii) determining of the lexical units in the transcript of a political speech, (iii-a) establishing for each lexical unit its meaning in context, taking into account what comes before and after the lexical unit, (iii-b) figuring out whether each lexical unit has a more basic contemporary meaning (i.e., more concrete, historically older) in other contexts that in the given context, (iii-c) determining whether the contextual meaning contrasts with the basic one but can be comprehended in comparison with it, (iv) marking the lexical unit as metaphoric, if there is such a contrast (Pragglejaz Group, 2007, p. 3).
The reference used for establishing the basic contemporary meanings of Turkish lexical units is the Large Turkish-Russian Dictionary (Baskakov, 1999).
To illustrate how MIP works, sample analysis is applied to an excerpt from the public speech of the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The reading of the whole speech, step 1, shows that it is about some difficult times in the political life of Turkey. At step 2, the passage, which has the word combination bıçağın üzerinden geçmek ('to walk over a knife-edge') is identified: (1) Adeta keskin bir bıçağın üzerinden geçiyoruz (Erdoğan, 2013).
'We seem to be walking over a sharp knife-edge' (examples hereinafter are in the authors' translation).
'/We/ seem/ to/ be/ walking/ over/ a/ sharp/ knife-edge/.' Later, the contextual meanings of all the lexical units are established and based on Large Turkish-Russian Dictionary (Baskakov, 1999). For example, for the word combination bıçağın üzerinden geçmek ('to walk over a knife-edge') the analysis is as follows: (a) contextual meaning: In the context of the excerpt, the word combination bıçağın üzerinden geçmek ('to walk over a knife-edge') means to be very anxious or worried about a difficult or stressful situation; (b) basic meaning: The basic meaning of the word combination üzerinden geçmek ('to walk across') is to move across something, and the basic meaning of the lexeme bıçak ('knife') is an instrument for cutting; (c) contextual meaning versus basic meaning: The contextual meaning contrasts with the basic one and is comprehended in comparison with it. In other words, a reader understands anxiety and worriment as a sharp knife.
As a result, the word combination bıçağın üzerinden geçmek ('to walk over a knife-edge') is marked as metaphoric (step 4).
At Metaphor Interpretation stage, the method of metaphoric modeling was applied. A metaphoric model is a communication scheme between conceptual spheres, which exists or emerges in the minds of native speakers and can be represented by the formula X is Y (Chudinov, 2001, p. 27). Turkish politicians often associate other political figures, political processes, and events of sociopolitical life with religious characters, episodes, and phenomena. This principle formed the basis of the model of "Social and Political Reality is Religion". The relationship between the components of this formula is understood not as a direct identification, but as a similarity; X is similar to Y, objects and phenomena of "Social and Political Reality" are similar to objects and phenomena of the world of "religion". The metaphoric projection is presented in Figure 1. In accordance with the above formula, the frame system (slots, concepts) of one mental domain (source domain) serves as the basis for modeling the mental system of another domain (target domain) (ibid., p. 27). Each metaphoric model consists of certain frames, which organize our understanding of the world as a whole. Frame is a fragment of the language picture of the world and a unit of knowledge organized around a certain concept (Dijk, 1988). Moreover, each frame includes typical slots, which are understood as elements of the situation that make up some part of the frame, some aspect of its specification (Chudinov, 2001, p. 29). For instance, in the present study the frame "The hereafter and punishment for sins" includes such slots as "Hell", "Devil", "Jinn", and "Judgment Day" (see Fig. 2).

Figure 2. A frame structure of the metaphoric model "Social and Political Reality is Religion"
At Metaphor Explanation stage, the religious background of the identified metaphors was analyzed in order to investigate the way religious beliefs are reflected in the Turkish language, to study the nature of religious metaphors and their connotations in public speeches of Turkish politicians.

Analysis of the metaphoric model "Social and Political Reality is Religion"
According to Taratynova, a religious metaphoric model is often characterized by a positive emotionality due to the positive attitude of recipients to the source domain (Taratynova, 2011, p. 157). However, metaphors with the source domain "Religion" in the context of the Turkish politics may not always be positive, as evidenced by some of the frames identified within the metaphoric model "Social and Political Reality is Religion".

Frame 1. Allah and Apostles and Angels
This frame includes slots with source domains "Allah" and "Apostles and Angels".
'For the one who will build the house of God in this world, the Lord will build a house in paradise.' In the example (3), the metaphor Rabbim cennette ev inşa eder ('the Lord will build a house in paradise') means "God's gift", because cennet ('paradise') is considered the place of eternal presence and bliss of righteous Muslims, which Allah bestowed upon them for their virtues in the earthly life.
As noted by Ali-zade (2007), religious Muslims are convinced that a righteous way of life will bring them closer to Allah and the Lord will reward them for good deeds with all good things. During one of his speeches, the chairman of the Nationalist Movement Party Devlet Bahçeli used such a metaphor (see example 4): (4) Doğruluk Allah'ın sevgisine giden yoldur. Gök ayakta doğrulukla durur .
'Righteousness is the path that leads to the love of Allah. Heaven rests on righteousness.' In the example (4), the notion of righteousness is given a sacred meaning, which is metaphorized by comparison with the path to the grace and love of God, because Allah is the patron of all the righteous.

Slot 1.2. Apostles and Angels
According to the 3 rd surah of the Quran, apostles ('havari') are the followers of the prophet Isa ('Jesus'), who believed in Allah and became Muslims. Apostles called themselves the helpers of Allah (Ali-zade, 2007). Therefore, the lexeme havari ('apostle') is often used to denote a supporter or assistant of a political leader (see examples 5-6).
'Unfortunately, they became voluntary agents, devoted apostles of the West.' Presented examples (5) -(6) have negative emotional undertones, which are caused by a negative attitude of speakers towards the subjects of their statements; therefore, comparisons of people with apostles have a negative and ironic character here.
According to the Islamic doctrine, the angels ('melekler') were created by Allah from the light. They are deprived of their liberty and fulfill the will of Allah, who sends them to accompany each person from birth to death, save and protect from any earthly disaster (Ali-zade, 2007) (see example 7).
'Hey, Dear Erdoğan, if you stubbornly continue to be a master, guardian angel, leader, partner and guarantor of murderers, there will be no need to look for the [terrorist organization] PKK in the Qandil Mountains.
In the example (7), the metaphor katillerin koruyucu meleği ('a guardian angel of murderers') has a negative tone, despite the fact that in Islam, guardian angels perform exclusively a positive function protecting believers from misfortunes and dangers.The word melek ('angel') is often characterized by positive connotations and is used to describe a sinless, kind person. However, in the speech of a former parliamentary deputy Mahmut Alınak the lexeme melek has the semantics of irony (see example 8).
'Those who listen to you think that you are angels who descended from heaven to take the Kurdish people under their protective wing.' The metaphorical phrase melek yüzlü ('the one who has an angelic face') means "beautiful", "cute", "attractive", etc., but in political rhetoric, it may have an ironic connotation (see example 9).
'When you see him, you will think that this person has an angelic face, but we know you, dear Bahçeli. And we know that those young oppositionists are left-wing radicals.' In view of the fact that replicas with a negative, ironic subtext often occur in the speeches of Turkish politicians, the most typical for them are metaphors associated with Angel Azrael ('Azrail'). According to Islam, Azrael is the angel of death, which by the order of Allah takes away the souls of the dead; that is why in political communication any comparison with Azrael causes either neutral emotions or exclusively negative associations. In Turkish, the word Azrail often stands for "death" (see example 10).
'Allah is a witness, if we give our lives for the sake of the motherland and Allah, we without hesitation will say 'aleykümselam' (hello) to holy Azrael.' In the example (10), the metaphor Hazreti Azrail'e 'aleykümselam' deriz means "we will die".

Frame 2. The hereafter and punishment for sins
The proposed frame consists of such slots as "Hell", "Devil", "Jinn" and "Judgment Day".

Slot 2.1. Hell
In the Quran, hell ('cehennem') is the place full of sinners and wrongdoers who rebelled against the will of Allah and did not worship him (Ali-zade, 2007). In addition, the Turkish scholar Harman (1993) defines the lexeme cehennem ('hell') as a place in the hereafter, where sinners will be punished.
Therefore, it can be confidently asserted that in the Turkish political communication metaphors with the lexeme cehennem have only a negative nature.
In the speeches of Turkish politicians, the most popular metaphoric expression is cehenneme çevirmek ('to turn something into hell') that means "to ruin", "to cause great harm", "to sow chaos". In one of his speeches, a Turkish politician from the Nationalist Movement Party Mehmet Parsak used such a metaphoric expression (see example 11): (11) AKP sıfır terör ile teslim aldığı Türkiye'yi adeta cehenneme çevirdi (Parsak, 2015).
'The Justice and Development Party has turned Turkey into hell, the country which had zero levels of terrorism before the reign of the party.' Particular attention in the Quran is paid to the description of the features of hellish torment. In the Hadith there are described numerous torments intended for the sinners who will always be in hell and burn in the fire (Ali-zade, 2007). In fact, Turkish politicians usually compare feelings of suffering and pain with hell ('cehennem'). Thus, the expression cehennem azabı çekmek ('to feel hellish torments') figuratively means "to suffer greatly" (see example 12).
'How could the prime minister, who for almost eight years forced the Turkish people to feel hellish torments, again appear on the squares?' According to the Quran and the Hadiths of the Prophet Muhammad, there is a gate for wrongdoers and sinners in hell (see example 13).
'When the gates of hell opened at the depths of our borders, hatred and evil quickly drove their roots.' In the example (13), the speaker criticized the authorities for the fact that the Turkish borders became vulnerable and open to terrorists and terrorist organizations, and therefore the metaphor cehennem kapıları açılırken ('when the gates of hell opened') was used here to illustrate the negative effects of government policy.
As noted in the Quran, sinners in hell eat bitter fruits of the tree called Zakkum ('Zaqqum'). These fruits cause a feeling of the molten copper in the stomachs of sinners (Ali-zade, 2007). Therefore, in the speech of a former deputy of the Nationalist Movement Party Hüseyin Türkoğlu, such concepts as betrayal, deceit, and discord are actualized with the word combination zakkum ağacı ('the tree of the Zaqqum') (see example 14).
'The tree of separatism planted by the dear prime minister has grown for eleven years and has yielded its fruits like the tree of the Zaqqum growing in hell.'

Slot 2.2. Devil
In the Quran, Shaitan ('şeytan') is a devil who is far from the truth, who lost the grace of God and does harm. In Islam, Shaitan is a jinn, who refused to worship as requested and was cursed by Allah (Ali-zade, 2007). As mentioned by Çelebi, şeytan ('devil') is a spirit that persecutes a man and tries to mislead him (1993, p. 99). Moreover, in Islam, Shaitan is also called Iblis, which in the figurative sense serves to denote mean and deceitful people who usually are traitors, terrorists, rebels, etc. (see example 15).
'Wherever this iblis is, he should be found and punished together with other coup attempters.' According to Çelebi (1993), the Muslims are convinced that the devil is able to bring people out of the righteous path, encourages them to commit sins, idolatry, and rebellion against Allah. Thus, Turkish politicians often metaphorically associate any wrongdoings with a way of Shaitan, an agreement with Shaitan, etc. Hence, the expression şeytan ile işbirliği yapmak ('to make an agreement with Shaitan') means "to commit any kind of crime" (see example 16).
'Some leaders say it is necessary to make an agreement with the President of Syria Assad against ISIL. It is unacceptable to make an agreement with one Shaitan against another one.' In addition, the Turkish people when characterizing evil, selfish and insidious people say that they "walk the way of Iblis" ('iblisin yolunu takip etmek /iblisin yolunda yürümek') (see example 17).
'Not only the Party of Peace and Democracy walks the way of Iblis, it is enthusiastically accompanied through this way by the Justice and Development Party.'

Slot 2.3. Jinn
In Islam, jinn is a being created by Allah from fire, endowed with consciousness, and is responsible for its deeds just as people (Ali-zade, 2007). In addition, Şahin points out that jinn ('cin') is a creature that obeys the commandments of Allah, and cannot be perceived sensually (1993, p. 5). For these reasons, in the Turkish political communication tricky and smart people are usually called jinn (see example 18).
'The main purpose of the political jinns of Balgat is to assess gaps in the law and try to win one more year, despite the risk of dissolution of the party.' In the Quran, some of jinns have names and a specific purpose. For example, one jinn, which inflicts suffering on people and has great power, is Ifrit. According to the Quran, Ifrit was subjected to the prophet Solomon and brought him the throne of the Queen of Sheba Bilkis (Ali-zade, 2007). Moreover, as noted by Erbaş, Ifrit is the strongest, the most intelligent, and the most harmful jinn (2000, p. 516); that is why the Turks associate various wrongdoings with him. Thus, in a figurative sense the expression ifrit olmak ('to be Ifrit') means "to be angry", "to have bad intentions", and respectively, the word ifrit is used in such figurative meanings as "evil", "anger", "fury" (see example 19).
'If the Turkish language is in a difficult situation, the Turkish people will be destroyed, and Turkey will suffer from insidious ambitions and evil intentions of someone else.'

Slot 2.4. Judgment Day
According to the Quran, when the end of the world ('kıyamet') comes, all people will respond to Allah for their deeds. The Muslims also believe that the end of the world will begin with two trumpet ('sur') sounds blown by Angel Israfil. After the first sound, all living creatures on the earth will die, and Allah will destroy the heaven, the stars, and the sea. After this, Allah will create a new land that will be flat, and after the second sound of the trumpet all humanity will rise again (Ali-zade, 2007). The described episode is metaphorized in the speech of a leader of the former Turkey Party Abdüllatif Şener, when he talks about a difficult social, economic, and political situation in Turkey (see example 20).
Lit. 'There is such a situation in Turkey that it seems as if Israfil blew the trumpet, and the end of the world began.' 'The situation in Turkey is critically dangerous.' In Turkish, the word combinations kıyamet koptu ('the end of the world began') and kıyameti koparmak ('to start the end of the world') are used figuratively to denote great disturbances, scandal, noise, etc. (see example 21).
'If such an agreement was signed by the Republican People's Party, there would be a great scandal.' It is also mentioned in the Quran that on the eve of the Judgment Day, antichrist Dajjal ('Deccal') will come to the Muslims, and devils will serve him (Ali-zade, 2007). Since Dajjal is considered to be the enemy of Allah, any identification with him has negative semantics. In his speech, the deputy of the Peoples' Democratic Party Hasip Kaplan associated the President of Turkey with Dajjal (see example 22).

'Erdoğan, do you want to be Dajjal?'
In the Muslim eschatology, Sirat ('Sırât') is a bridge laid over the hell, through which people have to go on the Judgment Day. In Islam, there is a belief that the righteous Muslims will easily cross the bridge, but wrongdoers and sinners will not be able to pass and will fall into the hellish fire (Ali-zade, 2007). In the figurative sense, the phrase Sırât köprüsünden geçmek ('to cross the bridge of Sirat') means "to face difficulties", "to overcome obstacles", or "to get into danger". A former deputy of the Nationalist Movement Party Oktay Öztürk used such a metaphoric expression (see example 23): (23) Türkiye çok ciddi beka sorunlarıyla karşı karşıyadır, adeta Sırat Köprüsü'nden geçmektedir (Öztürk, 2017).
'Turkey faces serious problems of survival and gets into danger.'

Frame 3. Servants of the cult
Within this frame, we highlight such slots as "Prophets" and "Righteous and Sinners".

Slot 3.1. Prophets
One of the key provisions of Islam is the doctrine of divine revelation through the prophets. Through his messengers, Allah reveals his sacraments to people, directing them to the righteous way that leads to salvation in paradise (Borunkov, 2005, p. 160). In addition, according to Yavuz, a prophet ('peygamber' -'the one who brings the news') is a person who is charged with preaching the knowledge and commandments received from Allah through revelation (2007, p. 257). Moreover, in the Turkish language, the names of prophets, angels, and saints are often preceded by the word It is noted both in the Bible and in the Quran that the first people on the earth were Adam and Eve ('Adem ve Havva'). According to the Islamic tradition, after the birth of his grandchildren and greatgrandchildren, Adam became a prophet and got a revelation from Allah through Angel Gabriel. Since in Islam Adam is considered the forefather of humankind, in the metaphoric sense the people and the whole nation may be called children of Adam ('Adem'in evlatları') (see example 24).
According to the Quran, a prophet who urged people to serve Allah and to abandon idolatry was Nuh ('Noah'). As noted by Harman, Nuh is one of the great prophets, against whom the unfaithfuls protested (2007, p. 224). Moreover, through his sermon, Nuh preached the faith in Allah and persuaded people to believe in God. Nevertheless, the wrong-doers expelled Nuh without believing him. Then Allah sent drought and famine to people and ordered Nuh to build a large ship -the ark. When the Great Flood began, only Nuh and all the believers were able to escape from death (Harman, 2007, p. 224). At the same time, it is believed that new generations of people descended from the sons of Nuh, and this belief is reflected in speeches of Turkish politicians (see example 25).
'I see globalization as the ship of Noah. (…) On the way to Mount Judy, the ship of Noah tried to land. Now, a whole humanity is actually on one ship with globalization. Either all of us will climb Mount Judi and make history, or we will all die.' By his metaphoric expression, the Turkish politician Davutoğlu warns that the issue of globalization is urgent for the entire planet and needs people to unite and deal with it together.
In Turkish political speech, the association of political processes, events, and phenomena with the world flood ('Nuh tufanı') often symbolizes significant changes (see example 27).
'The global flood left all sinners under water. And on June 7, the flood of democracy will begin, and this time it will throw the Justice and Development Party at the bottom of the ballot box.' In fact, comparing the effects of the global flood with probable election results, the speaker in the example (27) expressed his hopes that the competitor party will lose. In this part of the speech, the use of the metaphor helped the speaker reach the key goal -to indirectly express his views on the topic, the attitude towards which is negative.
The great prophet, whom Allah sent to the people of Israel, was Musa ('Moses'). It is mentioned in the Quran, that the Egyptian Pharaoh once saw a dream, after which he decided to kill all the newborns of Israel decent (Ali-zade, 2007). Thus, while in the metaphoric sense Pharaoh symbolizes cruelty, evil, and hatred, Moses is associated with salvation and goodness (see example 28).
'I want to remind you one thing. Each Pharaoh has his own Musa. Let him not forget about it.' The example (28) was taken from the public speech of the representative of the Turkish Republican People's Party Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who initiated the March of Justice as a protest against the unfair arrest of civil servants. In his speech, the politician metaphorizes the Turkish proverb Her Firavun'un bir Musa'sı vardır ('Each Pharaoh has his own Musa'), which in figurative terms means that "there is always one who saves society from the despotism of the ruler" (Çelikkanat, 2006, p. 107). Therefore, the speaker appears here in the role of the savior (Musa), and his opponent appears in the role of the despotic ruler (Pharaoh).

Slot 3.2. Righteous and Sinners
The Quran, as well as the Bible, describes the fratricidal story about Cain and Abel ('Kabil ve Habil'), according to which Cain killed his younger brother because of jealousy and became the first murderer in the history of mankind. In the metaphoric sense, this story is often associated with the struggle of good and evil, mercy and cruelty, with the war between fraternal peoples, etc. (see example 29).
'They have to choose between Cain and Abel. They have to make a choice between humanity and evil, beauty and ugliness, and determine which side they are.' In the example (29), with the help of the metaphor Habil ile Kabil arasında seçim yapmak ('to choose between Cain and Abel') the politician opposes humanity to evil and beauty to ugliness.
The prophet and righteous, whom Allah bestowed with the ability to do miracles, was Khidr ('Hızır').
The Turkish phraseologism Hızır gibi yetişmek ('to appear as Khidr'), based on the image of St. Khidr, has a metaphoric structure, and in a figurative sense means "to come to the aid at a critical moment" (Çelikkanat, 2006, p. 357) (see examples 30 -31).
'We will come to the aid of people in solving their problems.' It is mentioned in the Quran that among the sinners who went against the will of Allah was Korah ('Karun') who lived at the time of the Prophet Moses. Allah gave Korah innumerable wealth, but Korah was ungrateful, and by the will of Allah he found himself underground together with all his riches (Ali-zade, 2007). Therefore, in the modern Turkish language, the word combinations Karun olmak ('to be Karun') and Karun gibi zengin olmak ('to be rich as Karun') have a figurative meaning "to be extremely rich".  (Oran, 2012).
'It has already become the classic of the Justice and Development Party. From the time when Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was bombed by the municipality of Istanbul, everyone from his surrounding became extremely rich.' (33) Bu milletvekilleri Harun olmaya geldiler, Karun oldular (Çam, 2010).
'These deputies came to become Haruns, but became Karuns.' In the example (33), the speaker metaphorizes the images of deputies associating them with the Quranic characters. Harun was one of the prophets of Allah. Since the role of Harun was to preach and direct people to a righteous way, any comparisons with him have positive connotations.

Conclusions
The analyses presented in the foregoing sections make it possible to claim that religious metaphors are independent communicative and cognitive units in public speeches of Turkish politicians.
With respect to the metaphor analysis, one should begin with data collection procedure, which helps compile a corpus of written political speeches in order to make the data analysis procedure easier. Moreover, due to MIP, the metaphoric units with a religious background were identified and further analyzed through employing a method of metaphoric modeling.
Finally, the quantitative method helped establish that the metaphoric model "Social and Political Reality is Religion" appears to be extremely productive in the Turkish picture of the world, which proves the indisputable importance of religion for the contemporary world conceptualization by the Turks.
Within the metaphoric model "Social and Political Reality is Religion", the most capacious frame is "the hereafter and punishment for sins", metaphoric units of which have negative connotations. Such a result suggests that metaphoric units based on associations of political figures, political processes, events and phenomena of social life with the hereafter serve for Turkish politicians as a means of expressing dissatisfaction, condemnation, aggression, and other negative emotions.
Thus, this paper has outlined the specifics of religious metaphors in public speeches of Turkish politicians, yet the future studies may include similar analyses of other types of metaphors, which will provide an opportunity to make a conclusion about the productivity of the metaphoric model analyzed in the present study relative to other metaphoric models.

List of abbreviations
CMA -Critical Metaphor Analysis.