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'MEDIA IMPOSES OFFICIAL IDEOLOGY, CREATING NEGATIVE NON-MUSLIM IMAGE'
Today's Zaman
May 13 2012
Turkey
Intellectuals and journalists who gathered at a workshop for a debate
on how the media treats non-Muslims in society have said that the
media has had a crucial role in imposing official ideology on society.
"It is not that all negative perceptions in the media regarding
non-Muslims have been determined by media bosses or chief editors.
Everything started with the creation of a nationalist ideology back
in the years when the Turkish Republic was established and when
the nation-state was being formed," said sociologist Ayhan Aktar
at the two-day workshop, "Perception of non-Muslims in the Media,"
on May 12-13 organized by the Medialog Platform of the Journalists
and Writers Foundation (GYV).
"The Turkish political system has created factory settings. There is
an automatic reflex in the Turkish media in regards to how non-Muslims
are going to be treated," he said, noting as an example the events
of Sept. 6-7, 1955, when minorities who were living in Ä°stanbul were
forced to leave and the media had a role in the start of the riots.
Even though the Greek population in Turkey was not less than 100,000
in the 1930s, tension between Turkey and Greece has greatly affected
their survival in Turkey. Following the Ä°stanbul Riots of 1955
and then with the 1964 deportation of roughly 12,000 ethnic Greeks,
the Greek population has been in constant decline in Turkey.
Other minority communities, despite being Turkish citizens, have also
been negatively affected by political conflicts in which Turkey has
been involved with other countries, and many of them have left Turkey.
Turkey's population of nearly 75 million, mostly Muslims, currently
includes about 65,000 Armenian Orthodox Christians, 20,000 Jews,
15,000 Assyrians and about 3,500 Greek Orthodox Christians. According
to the last Ottoman population census of 1906, the proportion of
non-Muslims among the population was about 20 percent. The first
population census of the Turkish Republic in 1927, showed that this
ratio had been reduced to 2.5 percent.
However, Aktar also said that the official ideology would not be
changed by the state. "When society does not accept the official
ideology anymore, the state will have to change it, otherwise, it
will not."
Orhan Kemal Cengiz, a human rights lawyer who is also a columnist for
the Radikal daily, said that a bottom up approach is best suited in
that regard.
"Everybody, every group should be open to self-criticism, which is
not widely practiced in Turkish society," he said.
Syriac Catholics are estimated to number about 5,000 in Turkey. Zeki
Basatemir, chairperson of the Syriac Catholic Church Foundation, said
at the gathering that the educational system also has an important
role in the creation of perceptions.
"Of course, the media plays a significant part, but look at the history
books. There are prejudices," he said. "And if the government talks
about the importance of having a 'single religion' [Islam], then
what we talk about here remains not really meaningful. As we have
been getting together for 18 years with support from Fethullah Gulen
[the Islamic scholar], there should be no talk about 'one religion.' We
would like all religions to co-exist in harmony with each other."
On the second panel on Saturday, Å~^alom (Shalom) Editor-in-Chief
Evo Molinas said that the Jewish community in Turkey is negatively
influenced by political tensions between Turkey and Israel.
"Even though we are Turkish citizens, we are treated by some people as
if we are defenders of Israel. We are grateful to the Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his remarks, which were an antidote to
anti-Semitism," he said.
Alper GörmuÅ~_, columnist for the Taraf daily, emphasized that
"factory settings" are valid for the media in general.
"Left-leaning, nationalist or Muslim, each form of the media follows
the line that the state draws," he said.
He added that television series should take into serious consideration
what kind of perceptions they create, not just newspaper stories.
The participants, who were hosted for a lunch on Saturday at the
Greek Boys' High School at Heybeliada (or Halki, one of Ä°stanbul's
Princes' Islands), worked on Sunday on a final document which included
recommendations.
One suggestion in that regard refers to using a different terminology
in the media, for example, using "groups belonging to different
religions and belief systems," instead of "non-Muslims."
Participants also said that displaying bad practices -- such as hate
speech -- in the media would also contribute positively to the society
in changing negative perceptions.
On the role of what the minority media can do in that regard, Ohannes
Kılıcdagı, an academic and columnist at the Turkish-Armenian weekly
Agos, said that news stories that are not included in the mainstream
media can find a place in the minority media and increase the awareness
of minorities' problems.
Medialog's General Secretary Erkam Tufan Aytav stressed the lack of
trust between the majority and minorities in dealing with each other
and suggested more dialogue and similar workshops.
Today's Zaman
May 13 2012
Turkey
Intellectuals and journalists who gathered at a workshop for a debate
on how the media treats non-Muslims in society have said that the
media has had a crucial role in imposing official ideology on society.
"It is not that all negative perceptions in the media regarding
non-Muslims have been determined by media bosses or chief editors.
Everything started with the creation of a nationalist ideology back
in the years when the Turkish Republic was established and when
the nation-state was being formed," said sociologist Ayhan Aktar
at the two-day workshop, "Perception of non-Muslims in the Media,"
on May 12-13 organized by the Medialog Platform of the Journalists
and Writers Foundation (GYV).
"The Turkish political system has created factory settings. There is
an automatic reflex in the Turkish media in regards to how non-Muslims
are going to be treated," he said, noting as an example the events
of Sept. 6-7, 1955, when minorities who were living in Ä°stanbul were
forced to leave and the media had a role in the start of the riots.
Even though the Greek population in Turkey was not less than 100,000
in the 1930s, tension between Turkey and Greece has greatly affected
their survival in Turkey. Following the Ä°stanbul Riots of 1955
and then with the 1964 deportation of roughly 12,000 ethnic Greeks,
the Greek population has been in constant decline in Turkey.
Other minority communities, despite being Turkish citizens, have also
been negatively affected by political conflicts in which Turkey has
been involved with other countries, and many of them have left Turkey.
Turkey's population of nearly 75 million, mostly Muslims, currently
includes about 65,000 Armenian Orthodox Christians, 20,000 Jews,
15,000 Assyrians and about 3,500 Greek Orthodox Christians. According
to the last Ottoman population census of 1906, the proportion of
non-Muslims among the population was about 20 percent. The first
population census of the Turkish Republic in 1927, showed that this
ratio had been reduced to 2.5 percent.
However, Aktar also said that the official ideology would not be
changed by the state. "When society does not accept the official
ideology anymore, the state will have to change it, otherwise, it
will not."
Orhan Kemal Cengiz, a human rights lawyer who is also a columnist for
the Radikal daily, said that a bottom up approach is best suited in
that regard.
"Everybody, every group should be open to self-criticism, which is
not widely practiced in Turkish society," he said.
Syriac Catholics are estimated to number about 5,000 in Turkey. Zeki
Basatemir, chairperson of the Syriac Catholic Church Foundation, said
at the gathering that the educational system also has an important
role in the creation of perceptions.
"Of course, the media plays a significant part, but look at the history
books. There are prejudices," he said. "And if the government talks
about the importance of having a 'single religion' [Islam], then
what we talk about here remains not really meaningful. As we have
been getting together for 18 years with support from Fethullah Gulen
[the Islamic scholar], there should be no talk about 'one religion.' We
would like all religions to co-exist in harmony with each other."
On the second panel on Saturday, Å~^alom (Shalom) Editor-in-Chief
Evo Molinas said that the Jewish community in Turkey is negatively
influenced by political tensions between Turkey and Israel.
"Even though we are Turkish citizens, we are treated by some people as
if we are defenders of Israel. We are grateful to the Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his remarks, which were an antidote to
anti-Semitism," he said.
Alper GörmuÅ~_, columnist for the Taraf daily, emphasized that
"factory settings" are valid for the media in general.
"Left-leaning, nationalist or Muslim, each form of the media follows
the line that the state draws," he said.
He added that television series should take into serious consideration
what kind of perceptions they create, not just newspaper stories.
The participants, who were hosted for a lunch on Saturday at the
Greek Boys' High School at Heybeliada (or Halki, one of Ä°stanbul's
Princes' Islands), worked on Sunday on a final document which included
recommendations.
One suggestion in that regard refers to using a different terminology
in the media, for example, using "groups belonging to different
religions and belief systems," instead of "non-Muslims."
Participants also said that displaying bad practices -- such as hate
speech -- in the media would also contribute positively to the society
in changing negative perceptions.
On the role of what the minority media can do in that regard, Ohannes
Kılıcdagı, an academic and columnist at the Turkish-Armenian weekly
Agos, said that news stories that are not included in the mainstream
media can find a place in the minority media and increase the awareness
of minorities' problems.
Medialog's General Secretary Erkam Tufan Aytav stressed the lack of
trust between the majority and minorities in dealing with each other
and suggested more dialogue and similar workshops.