Panel called “The rooted “other”s of media in Turkey” was held on November 19, 2019 in Anarad Hığutyun Building.

The panel was moderated by Pınar Uyan Semerci. She started by saying that it is meaningful to talk about the changing media and the changing language concerning her early studies on “othering”. After recognizing the existence of alienated groups in Turkey, she said that there might be an addition of this alienated groups. She mentioned Syrian refugees as an example of this addition. After she underlined that it was important for us to realize that we are not independent of the “others”, and then she left the floor to the speakers.

The first speaker İdil Engindeniz, who is Galatasaray University Faculty of Communication’s faculty member, began with the presentation of ' the Unchanged Others of Media in Turkey' with the help of the general findings of the “Media Watch of Hate Speech” Project’s media monitoring work till today. After that, she focused on such questions; “What is hate speech? Is the hate speech emotion-based or ideology-based?” and “What should be the function of the media?” in her speech. Finally, she emphasized that practices that systematically cover hate speech should be disclosed by civil society. As a result of this struggle, those who use hate speech might feel uncomfortable regarding their discriminatory discourse.

The second speaker Kaya Akyıldız, who is from Bahcesehir University Sociology Department, gave a speech on the role of cultural hegemony in the production of “othering” in today’s Turkey. He stated that he focused on the project on Sunnism, Turkishness and masculinity. He presents the output of his project via his media monitoring works which include the news, most clicked news site in Turkey particularly about Sunniness. Akyildiz, who specifically examined hate speech against djemevi and Alevism, said that these discourses were mostly created with religious motivation in ‘New Turkey’.

Finally, Arus Yumul, a faculty member of the Sociology Department of Bilgi University, based on the anecdote at the beginning of his speech, stated that the struggle for “good” and “evil” led to the emergence of ideologies and religions. She pointed out that the word “gâvur” is not only a descriptive term, but with the use of the word, a certain kind of attribute is derived from the demonization, and then turned into an insult against the non-Muslim. She talked about how non-Muslims are targeted within the framework of hate speech. Afterwards, she stated that Syrian refugees are “the new others” in Turkey. This group is described as being “ungrateful,” “unacceptable”, “having eyes on Turkey’s lands” and “being dirty” as happened to “others” in the past.