Within July 22 – 28, 2019, four articles that generate hate speech were selected from print media. You can find these articles that contain hate speech against Syrians as well as the analyses written about them below.¹

1. In the article published in Korkusuz with the title “Biting the hand that feeds you”, Syrian refugees are accused of “ungratefulness” with the title and the remark “We gave food and jobs to 4 million Syrians, but look what they have done”. In the article starting with this accusation, a protest banner calling for support to refugees, a photograph that is claimed be depicting a Syrian and an illustration allegedly drawn by a Syrian are featured in a way that supports the claim that Syrian refugees are “ungrateful”. With the statement, “Turkey embraced millions of Syrians who escaped from the civil war. These lands became a cozy home and provided subsistence for them. However, an illustration by a Syrian named Moustafa Jacoub who went to the US was enough. He turned the crescent in the Turkish flag into the mouth of a monster and the star into people running away. And he shared this ugly image with the caption ‘Syrian refugees in Turkey”, an opposition between Syrian and Turkish identities is formed by positioning Turks as “compassionate hosts” as opposed to “ungratefulness” attributed to Syrian identity. Furthermore, Syrians are targeted with the use of a deputy’s statement “Syrians made the cities inhabitable” as a subheading. While the article as a whole presents Syrian refugees’ presence in Turkey as a “problem”, it also targets Syrians by accusing them of being “ungrateful” to Turkey.

2. Songül Başkaya, in her column titled “Striking migration statistics”, covers forced migrations to Turkey and brain drain in Turkey. With the statement “Of course, it is impossible to approve migrations from our country for whatever reason. But we have to think about young people who are denied vocational training let alone benefiting from the same opportunities with Syrians who get almost everything for free”, she presents this claim about Syrian refugees as a reason for brain drain in Turkey. Thus, the columnist foments existing negative opinions about Syrian refugees and targets them.

3. The article published in Yeni Mesaj with the title “Syrians taking to the streets in Istanbul” reports the Ministry of Interior’s decision about Syrian refugees. While the protest mentioned in the article is presented as a claim, the title “Syrians taking to the streets in Istanbul” contradicts with article’s content and Syrians are targeted by being held responsible for this possible protest.

4. Mustafa Ekmekcioğlu, in his column titled “They say Syrians will stage a protest!”, deals with the Ministry of Interior’s decision about Syrian refugees. While he reports this decision, he writes “But Syrians in Istanbul are not happy about this decision” and then targets all Syrians by mentioning the following claim: “Syrians are planning to stage a demonstration in front of the Istanbul Governor’s Office to protest this decision.” By using unverified information such as “We feed almost 4 million Syrians, while Turkey struggles with the economic crisis, firms are bankrupt and people are unemployed”, the columnist presents Syrian refugees’ presence as an “economic threat” and targets this identity.

^{1. Nefret söylemi odaklı sistematik medya izleme çalışması kapsamında, tüm ulusal gazeteler ve sayısı 500’ü bulan yerel gazete önceden belirlenen anahtar kelimeler üzerinden (ör. hain, dönme, mülteci, Hıristiyan, Yahudi, bölücü vs.) medya takip merkezi aracılığıyla taranıyor. Bu anahtar kelimeleri içeren haber ve köşe yazıları günlük olarak okunuyor (gazetelerin hafta sonu baskıları hariç) ve nefret söylemi içeren yazılar tespit ediliyor. Esas olarak ulusal, etnik ve dini kimlik temelli nefret söylemine odaklanılırken cinsiyetçi ve homofobik/transfobik söylemler de tarama kapsamına alınıyor.}