January 14, 2012

Emotional Western journalism on Turkey

İhsan Yılmaz

Especially after the “one minute” incident at Davos, some Western media sources have been increasingly emotional in their journalism and news reporting of Turkey.

Turkey in Western media
The majority of pieces that appear in the Western media are far from balanced, objective or accurate. One does not need to be an Edward Said reader to know how Orientalism influences coverage of Islam in the Western media, but the case of Turkey requires special attention. Soon after the Turkish Parliament, dominated by the Justice and Democracy Party (AKP), rejected a motion that would allow American troops to use Turkish soil in their invasion of Iraq in March 2003, the Western media increasingly described the AKP as an Islamo-fascist party. Now, after the “one minute” incident, and after 10 years of AKP rule -- which is supported not only by secular liberal-democrats, but by even non-Muslim citizens such as Armenians, despite their critical distance and lack of engagement -- these very circles claim that Turkey is becoming an authoritarian country under the rule of the AKP and the Hizmet (Gülen) Movement.