Analyst

İdil Engindeniz Şahan

Translation

Aylin Çitiloğlu

Language

Turkish, English

May 2016
71 Pages
Free

In the four-month period covering January – February – March – April 2015, 270 columns and news articles targeting national, ethnic and religious communities had been scanned and a total of 278 hate speech items were found.

In this period covering the first four months of 2015, there was a decrease in the number of publications containing hate speech compared to the previous period; however, for example, the fact that hate speech against Syrians has become widespread shows that this quantitative change does not amount to softening in content. In the first period of the year, during the New Year’s celebrations, hate speech against Christians especially increased, as in the previous years. We also found out that hate speech was generated regarding Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s to a dinner with representatives of several religions as part of “Meeting of religions against Islamophobia”; the attack against Charlie Hebdo, a humor magazine published in France; the killing of three young people in their homes in the United States of America; and finally the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide on April 24th.

Although the ranking of the groups that have been subjected to hate speech, hostility and othering in Turkish press changed, the targeted groups remained almost the same in this period. In the first quarter of the year, it is found that Armenians were the ones who were subjected to hate speech most with 103 items. Jews have the second place with 75 items, while Christians ranked third with 73 items. The British, Syrians, Non-Muslims, Kurds, Rûms, Atheists followed them with 21, 16, 14, 13, 12 and 11 items respectively as the groups subjected to hate speech.

Among the 43 items analyzed under the title “Other Disadvantaged Groups” including hate speech targeting women and LGBTI, 29 items contain hate speech towards LGBTI individuals. Hate speech towards women is detected in 14 items within the period and publications observed.

Report name
Media Watch on Hate Speech January - April 2015
Original name
Medyada Nefret Söylemi Ocak - Nisan 2015 (2015)
Price
Free
Pages
71
Width
210 mm
Height
295 mm
Printing
May 2016
Language
English
Project Team
İrem Az, Nuran Gelişli, Rojdit Barak, Zeynep Arslan
Analyst
İdil Engindeniz Şahan
Translation
Aylin Çitiloğlu
Editing
Cansen Mavituna

Media Watch on Hate Speech Project is funded by Friedrich Naumann Foundation and MyMedia/Niras. The views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of the funders.

  • About Monitoring Hate Speech in the Media
  • Monitoring Hate Speech in National and Local Newspapers in Turkey
  • Hate Speech in Print Media
  • Findings
  • News Items Selected in the Period between January and April 2015
  • Examples from Categories
    • 1) Swearing / Insult / Denigration
      • Birth Control is National Suicide - Nazif Kurucu
      • Giaourization or Islamization - Süleyman Önsay
    • 2) Enmity / War Discourse
      • This is My Suggestion to the Esteemed Prime Minister - Faruk Köse
      • The Supreme Ottoman State/Empire - Nizamettin Bekar
      • ‘Alawites are not Telling the Truth!’- Faruk Aksoy
      • We are Fed Up with Armenians - Yalçın Bayer / Prof. Dr. Atilla Çetin
    • 3) Exaggeration / Attribution / Distortion
      • Teacher Became a Victim of the Syrian He/She Had Helped - Mehmet Ali Demir
      • Syrian Defrauder Stole 70,000 Liras
      • Syrian Counterfeit Money Gang / Counterfeit Money Caught on Syrians - Sabah Akdeniz
    • 4) Symbolization
      • Jewish Trap in Debt Ads - Osman Yiğit, The Jew Could Not Put Up with It - Anadolu Ajansı, The Jew Detained the Fishermen and Opened Fire to Them - Anadolu Ajansı
  • Other Disadvantaged Groups
  • Examples by Categories
    • 1) Enmity / War Discourse
      • Can Women and Men Work Together? - Cübbeli Ahmet Hoca
      • Dim View of Atheists and Gays - Hayrettin Karaman
    • 2) Exaggeration / Distortion / Attribution
      • Why Shouldn't a Woman Be a Leader? - Sema Maraşlı
      • Will Be Asked One Day! - Meryem Nida
    • 3) Swearing / Insult / Denigration
      • How Dare You / Both Deviant and Treacherous - Vahdet
      • Even a Butcher Would Make Fener a Champion - Sözcü, Even Çengelköy Butcher Makes It a Champion - Milliyet