‘HATE RHETORIC’ IN TURKISH PRESS SHOWS SMALL DECLINE

Hurriyet Daily News
Thursday, April 29, 2010

The Turkish press has shown improvement over the past three years
in avoiding the use of ‘hate rhetoric’ that can lead to hate crimes,
new research reveals. According to the findings, hate rhetoric in the
media is most often based on ethnic issues or religious convictions.

Experts say a clear law defining hate crimes must be endorsed as soon
as possible The Turkish press has exhibited greater awareness about
publishing news that could fall into the category of hate rhetoric
or hate crimes since the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant
Dink, a group of experts has concluded.

According to their research, which was made available to the public
Thursday, most of the "hate rhetoric" published in Turkey is based
on ethnic background and religious beliefs.

After scanning the past 10 years of news in 20 daily papers, the
researchers chose 10 stories that they considered the most striking
examples of inciting hatred toward a specific group.

"Hate rhetoric leads to hate crimes and the media plays a critical
role in this sense, just as it plays a critical role in broadening
the use of positive language," said Cengiz Algan, the head of the
Association of Social Change, which conducted the research.

A 2005 headline from daily Star, "Traitors are captured," was
picked to exemplify hate rhetoric. (The paper is owned today by a
different media group than it was at that time.) The news concerned
two children, ages 12 and 14, who were taken into custody by the
police for allegedly setting a Turkish flag on fire at the March 21
commemoration of Nevruz, a celebration of the arrival of spring in
many parts of the Middle East.

In recent years, Nevruz has taken on a political connotation in parts
of Turkey, with certain media outlets and interest groups representing
it as a politicized event celebrated mostly by members of the country’s
Kurdish population.

According to the research, hate rhetoric against certain groups shows
a tendency to increase during specific time periods. In addition to
March 21, where there is often aggressive rhetoric exhibited against
Kurds, anti-Armenian rhetoric often becomes stronger and more frequent
leading up to April 24, a date of mourning for Armenians.

Last April 24 provided a reason for hope, however, according to Cengiz
Aktar from Istanbul’s BahceÅ~_ehir University, who noted that a group
of intellectuals held remembrance ceremonies in Turkey for the first
time for the alleged 1915 killings of Armenians.

"Although mainstream media tried to exploit the ceremonies that were
held at four different places, it fell behind the state this time. The
approach of security forces was more neutral compared to that of some
media outlets," said Aktar, who was on the consultative board of the
research and is also a columnist for the Daily News.

Aktar said there has been improvement in avoiding the use of hate
rhetoric since the murder of Dink, as well as the murder of Christian
missionaries in Malatya in 2007.

Other types of hate rhetoric are based on gender and sexual
orientation, according to the researchers, who picked two new stories
about transvestites among their 10 examples of media reports that
incited hatred. Another news story about a female German politician
was given as an example of hate rhetoric based on gender.

Minimizing the use of hate rhetoric

There is no law in Turkey that covers hate crimes, including Article
122 of the Turkish Penal Code criminalizing discrimination, said
Yasemin Ä°nceoglu from Istanbul’s Galatasaray University. A member
of the report’s consultative board, Ä°nceoglu said hate crimes need
to be clearly defined in the Turkish Penal Code and encouraged media
outlets to start a joint campaign to avoid using hate rhetoric.

"Internal education in the media is also important to raise awareness
on the subject," she added.

The report also encouraged readers to condemn news that incites hatred
by various means, including making comments on stories posted online.

Newspapers surveyed

The newspapers surveyed by the researchers with the Association of
Social Change were AkÅ~_am, Birgun, Cumhuriyet, Fotomac, Gundem,
Hurriyet, Milli Gazete, Milliyet, Ortadogu, Posta, Radikal, Sabah,
Star, Taraf, Turkiye, Vakit, Vatan, Yeni Å~^afak, Yenicag and Zaman.

The consultative board

Members of the consultative board for the research were Aydın
Engin (journalist), AyÅ~_e Hur (historian/author), BagıÅ~_ Erten
(journalist), Dr. Baskın Oran, Dr. Cengiz Aktar (BahceÅ~_ehir
University,) IÅ~_ın Elicin (journalist,) Kerem Kabadayı (musician),
Assistant Professor Kerem Rızvanoglu (Galatasaray University,) Sefa
Kaplan (journalist), Professor Turgut Tarhanlı (Bilgi University),
Professor Yasemin Ä°nceoglu (Galatasaray University) and Zeynep Tanbay
(artist).