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ANKARA: Turkey Urgently Needs Peace Journalism!

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  • ANKARA: Turkey Urgently Needs Peace Journalism!

    TURKEY URGENTLY NEEDS PEACE JOURNALISM!
    Erol Onderoglu

    BIA
    http://www.bianet.org/english/kateg ori/english/104845/turkey-urgently-needs-peace-jou rnalism
    Feb 13 2008
    Turkey

    A reaction in the Turkish press to the fire in Ludwigshafen which
    killed nine Turks shows how great the need for more balanced reporting
    is. A newspaper accusing Germany of covering up a neo-Nazi attack is
    perpetrating racism itself.

    Yesterday's headline in a Turkish tabloid was a worrying example of
    the interpretation of current affairs in a manner which reinforces a
    sense of victimhood as well as nationalist aggression in Turkey. The
    article in question was a reaction to the fire in Ludwigshafen,
    Germany, which had killed nine Turks, five of them children. The
    cause of the fire is as yet unknown.

    German criticism of Turkish prejudice The German press has been
    commenting on Turkish reactions to the fire, saying "the Turkish
    media is prejudiced and Erdogan has confused mourning with elections,"
    referring to the wide-spread belief in Turkey that the fire in Germany
    was neo-Nazi arson, and also referring to Prime Minister Erdogan's
    speech in Cologne, in which he opposed assimilation.

    The Westdeutsche Zeitung in Germany had criticised a "prejudiced
    Turkish press" and the fact that Erdogan seemed to use the occasion
    of the funeral for too much speechifying. The Flensburger Tagesblatt
    had also written about Erdogan's mistiming, confusing mourning and
    election campaigning.

    Partly in reaction to this, the tabloid newspaper Gunes (Sun) made
    disturbing comments about the fire in Germany this month which killed
    nine Turks and the murder of journalist Hrant Dink in Turkey last
    year on its front page yesterday (12 February).

    Inciting to racism Its headline read, "9 Turks are not considered worth
    1 Hrant", followed by the following text: "When Hrant Dink became the
    victim of a heinous assassination, Turkey stood up in protest. But
    for the 9 Turkish victims of Nazis, no one is raising their voice."

    It is not difficult to translate the headline into what the editors of
    the newspaper really think, i.e. "9 Turks were not considered worth
    1 Armenian." It is ironic that the newspaper complains about lack of
    empathy for "Nazi victims", although arson has not been proven and
    investigations into the cause of the fire are continuing, while at
    the same time encouraging another kind of racism.

    It is precisely this kind of racism which has led to the murders
    of priest Andrea Santoro, journalist Hrant Dink and three Christian
    publishers in Malatya.

    Accusing Germany and Turkey of hypocrisy Referring to the crowds in
    front of the court building at the third hearing of the Dink murder
    case on 11 February as well as the crowds at his funeral last year,
    the Gunes said: "At least as heinous an attack was experienced in
    Germany. Nine Turks died when their house was burnt down. Their names
    were Ilyas...Belma...Karanfil....When they were buried in Gaziantep
    yesterday, there were no tens of thousands of people who 'felt the
    pain in their heart.'

    The newspaper was also incensed at the fact that Germans did not
    march saying "We are all Turkish," again a reference to the funeral
    procession of Hrant Dink, where people had carried banners of empathy,
    saying "We are all Hrant, we are all Armenian." Gunes also accuses
    the German media of a cover-up.

    The newspaper is thus perpetrating the common Turkish nationalist
    discourse of looking for enemies without and within.

    A very different interpretation...

    In a very different vein was the article by Mehmet Yilmaz in the
    Hurriyet newspaper yesterday (12 February). He pointed out that
    because of the possibility of a racist attack, there were German
    representatives at the funeral in Gaziantep. He added:

    "Priest Santoro was killed in Trabzon as the result of a
    religious-racist attack. No high-level state official participated
    in his funeral."

    "Hrant Dink was killed in a religious-racist attack. The Prime Minister
    visited the Dink family in their home to express his condolences
    after the funeral. You imagine why he could not attend the funeral
    and why he felt he had to express his condolences behind closed doors."

    "The Turkish and German Christians working in a bookshop which
    published bibles in Malatya were slain in a religious-racist attack,
    three people died. There were no state officials at the funerals."

    Media reinforcing racism and xenophobia A regional newspaper in
    Gaziantep, where all the nine fire victims were from, the Hakimiyet
    newspaper, reported on the funeral. It quoted the German ambassador
    Eckart Cuntz in Ankara, who attended the funeral, as saying: "The
    people who lost their lives where the children of both the cities of
    Gaziantep and Ludwigshafen."

    The mayor of Greater Gaziantep, Asim Guzelbey, was cited in the same
    article: "On my visit to Germany immediately after the fire, I saw
    that German society was at least as affected as we were by the event.

    I saw that everything is being done to find the cause of the event. I
    want this to be known."

    However, as if ignoring these mutual expressions of respect and
    goodwill, the newspaper then chose to head the article thus: "From
    the German Hell to God's Heaven"...

    Regional and national newspapers have not grasped the concept of
    peace journalism, which is vital in the struggle against racism and
    xenophobia. It is high time they did, however; otherwise how can we
    understand who is sowing the seeds of discord? (EO/TK/AG)
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