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Within the scope of Media Watch on Hate Speech Project, implemented by the Hrant Dink Foundation, media watch report covering the May - August 2014 period has been released in two sections. In the report written by media studies academician Idil Engindeniz from Galatasaray University, while the main focus has been on hate speech based on national, ethnic and religious identity, sexist and homophobic discourse are also analyzed under the title of ‘Other Disadvantaged Groups’.

The discriminatory discourse file of this report covering the May-August 2014 period is based on discriminatory discourse towards the Jewish identity. In the second part of the report written by lawyer and journalist Rita Ender, we have analyzed how discriminatory discourse towards the Jewish identity is generated by Turkey’s press in relation to the operation launched by Israel against Gaza in July.

Hate speech continues to increase rapidly!

In the first section of the report covering the May - August 2014 period, it has been observed that there is a considerable increase in the number of instances of hate speech.

At national level, hate speech was generated in the context of elections in eventful summer months. However, the main increase in the articles containing hate speech was seen in the context of the international agenda, determined by Israel’s military operation launched against Gaza. In addition, the message of condolences issued by former Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Edogˆan on April 23rd on the occasion of Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day also had an impact on this increase.

In terms of the number of articles containing hate speech, the first three targeted groups have not changed compared to the previous periods and they are respectively Jews, Armenians and Christians. While 32 different groups were exposed to hate speech within this period, 50.40% of the total items containing hate speech targeted only Jews and Armenians. These are followed by 21 items for Rûms, 18 items for Kurds and 10 items for the Syrian refugees who have been among those exposed to hate speech.

In comparison with news articles, it is observed that hate speech was mainly found in opinion columns.

Among the 31 items analyzed under the title “Other Disadvantaged Groups” including hate speech targeting women and LGBTI, 9 items contain hate speech towards LGBTI individuals. Whereas hate speech directly towards transgender individuals is found in 3 items, hate speech towards women is detected in 19 items within the period and publications observed.

The Operation Israel Launched Against Gaza and Discriminatory Language towards Jews in Media

We have set the topic of discriminatory discourse file of this report, which covers the May - August period, as the discriminatory discourse against Jews in Turkish media after the operation launched in Gaza in July 7, 2014 by the State of Israel. Accordingly, within the period from July 8, 2014 to July 22, 2014, newspapers Zaman, Posta, Hürriyet, Sözcü, and Sabah determined with respect to their circulation were monitored and analyzed.

Of the 485 items we have surveyed during this period, publications in most had informative / factual content which answers the questions of “what - why - where - when - who - how” and it is followed by publications classified as carrying political intentions / provocative. When the general contents of the articles, specifically opinion columns, are evaluated, it is observed that the articles mostly belong to the categories of critical and politically motivated / provocative.

Anti-Semitism, which is done via holding Jews responsible for Israel’s foreign policy and practices, comes up to the fore by making generalization using “Jews” or “Israelis” instead of using “State of Israel” or “Israel” or “Israel Defense Forces” or instead of expressing persons or institutions explicitly.

Without telling apart Judaism from Zionism, Israel from Jewish people, State of Israel from Israelis and Jews around the world, and by preferring to designate all of them with the word “Jewish” creates a polarizing effect. In this sense, with regards to the study period it was important not to name people as the “Jew” or the “Muslim” in the publications about the operation of the State of Israel started, in order not to otherize. Even we have observed good examples of opinion columns highlighting this sensibility, there are other examples in which “Jews” or “Israelis” are used by making generalization instead of using or identifying “State of Israel” or “Israel”.

While the State of Israel and Israelis are undoubtedly named as “Yahudi” (Jewish), there is reference to Palestine’s and Palestinians’ being “Muslim” yet there is no expressions emphasizing their “Arab” identity. Not making an emphasis that would evoke hostility and negative meanings attributed to Arabs in society, and instead of this, preferring the emphasis of Islam which is a uniting concept, create a polarization between the Islamic world and the Jewish world and indicates who should take which side in the debate.

On the other hand, besides some columnists’ referring to Hitler and Holocaust, and using them for comparison, some cases, in which Hitler and Holocaust were directly the subject of the news report, were also detected.