A conference titled “The Role of the Media in the Relations between Turkey and the Kurdish Regional Government in Iraq” held on Saturday in İstanbul by the Medialog Platform of said foundation was attended by 65 senior journalist and intellectuals -- 30 and 35, respectively, from northern Iraq and Turkey. I would like share with you my notes from this meeting, organized with great support from the Feza educational institutions operating in the region, in which every issue related to the relations between Iraqi Kurdistan and Turkey was discussed with candor.Before going any further, I would like to note that the picture portrayed in a report presented in the beginning by Nurten Somuncu from Burç Communications College was far from being a source of pride for the Turkish media. With their aggressive, provocative and pro-violence attitude toward Kurds in northern Iraq, the Turkish media can be safely defined as destructive rather than constructive. The facts detailed in this presentation on the Turkish media could not be easily ignored by the Turkish journalists speaking during the event, who would make occasional references to them. For instance, Doğan Akın, editor-in-chief of the T24 news portal, stated that a sort of propaganda journalism is in place in Turkey, stressing the fact that this style, attributable to the damage done by military coups and interventions, has led to unethical, aggressive, pro-conflict and provocative manners. Noting that the Turkish media have yet to face and question the military coups of the past, Akın underlined that the chief columnists of two big papers who hailed the military coup of Sept. 12, 1980 are still around today.
Kurdish intellectual Ümit Fırat, too, voiced similar arguments, explaining that the Turkish media have adopted the official discourse of the state and insistently continue to do so. Pointing out that the media invented phrases such as “the north of Iraq” in order to avoid calling the region “Kurdistan,” in agreement with the official line, Fırat argued that the civil registries of the people in this region had been kept in İstanbul just 100 years ago and therefore, it would be more proper to define these people with reference not to Iraq, but to Turkey. Similarly, NTV News Manager Mete Çubukçu underlined the fact that Turkish media organizations categorically embody the state and government polices even though they are actually supposed to guide the government and the state. Çubukçu further emphasized that the media’s misguided belief that it is better for the harshest, most provocative headline to be run must be abandoned.
Amberin Zaman, from The Economist and the Taraf daily, criticized the Turkish media for automatically censoring themselves with respect to matters they believe are related to the security and national unity sphere and accused the Western media of overly romanticizing developments in the region. Drawing attention to the physical hardships of conducting free journalism in northern Iraq, Zaman explained that she was pressured by northern Iraqi officials in connection with one of her news stories and that she was quickly deported from the country by the Barzani administration.
The most striking observations came from Ali Bulaç and Altan Tan, who closely monitor developments in the region. Categorizing the distorted view Turkey and the Turkish media entertain toward Iraqi Kurdistan under four headings, Bulaç drew attention to the incorrectness of perceiving the region essentially as a political and military phenomenon. Noting that northern Iraq is engraved in people’s memories as a distant and foreign human geography, Bulaç pointed out that the region is viewed as a place dominated by terrorism, insecurity and a primitive lifestyle. As a consequence, Bulaç added, the region is perceived as a threat to Turkey. Touching on the fact that Turkey and the Turkish media do not entertain the notion of “neighboring northern Iraq,” Bulaç indicated that Arbil is, however, a tranquil region as an extension of the Turkish geography. Bulaç stated that the first thing to do should be to ensure that the media dispense with their provocative and pro-violence language and style.
Like other participants, Kurdish intellectual Tan, too, pointed out that it is wrong to assume a position that is in line with the Turkish state’s official discourse and to regard the people in Iraqi Kurdistan as a foreign, distant and even threatening nation. Pointing out that the dominant attitude in Turkey is discussing the region with reference to the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Tan said it is a flawed move to shape our stance -- be it hostile or friendly -- based on the PKK factor. Making three concrete suggestions concerning what should be changed to improve things, Tan urged for Turkish consulates to be opened in Arbil, Dohuk and Sulaymaniyah, for visa requirements to be dropped between Turkey and Iraq and for the Habur border crossing to be improved.
I, too, delivered a speech during the meeting and suggested that if we are to talk about a Kurdistan, Turkey is the actual Kurdistan and İstanbul is the greatest Kurdish city, as more than 15 million of the Kurdish population -- which is estimated to be around 25 million worldwide -- lives in Turkey. Noting that Kurds who intermingle with Turks cannot be separated geographically from Turks, I further argued that democratization will eliminate many issues, including the Kurdish issue, and that relations with Iraqi Kurds will quickly improve. Emphasizing that there is an ongoing struggle to remove pro-army, pro-weapon and pro-violence language from democracy and civilian politics in Turkey, I underscored that a similar struggle should be maintained by intellectuals and the media in northern Iraq to get rid of the PKK’s influence on the relations.
I can hear you ask quite justifiably, “Did only Turkish intellectuals and journalists talk at this important meeting?” As I attach great importance to every sentence uttered during this meeting, I decided to pen another article about how Kurdish intellectuals and journalists view relations with Turkey. You can read about Iraqi Kurdistan’s perspective on Turkey and how the Kurds in the region regard relations between Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan in my next article.
