The instrumental usage of a aulturalist “White-Black” dichotomy in the Turkish press (1980-2013)

Abstract

The objective of this dissertation is to examine and analyse the instrumental usage of a culturalist “White - Black” dichotomy in the Turkish media. A crucial concern is how the initially conceived definition of White Turks has expanded beyond its original definition and currently tends to be exaggerated in different contexts, especially in order to justify and consolidate authority or to artificially construct an elitist order. In this work I present a perspective to shed a light on and comprehend the reasons of this process, contextualizing the 'white-black' terminology since its introduction in 1980 until a sort of climax in 2013 during the Gezi Park confrontations in Istanbul. I scrutinized the reasons for the usage of the term, analyzing the axes of social divisions based on parallel dichotomies connected to the chromatic distinctions ( such as centre-periphery, islam-secularism, conservatives-progressives), where this complexity is identified as a factor facilitating journalistic manipulation. In order to set up powerful arguments, I present the analysis of daily press and media materials from the period 2005-2013 showing the representation and reproduction of urban elitism and the discourse of political leaders. That analysis is followed by the consultation of relevant scholarly documents and literature and interviews with journalists. Theoretically, the analysis of national identity and “othering” is rooted within poststructuralist approaches. Methodologically I used discourse analysis to study themes, symbols and stereotypes that are part of the culture expressed in media materials.