ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the political public relations (PR) and/or propaganda efforts of the Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi (AKP) government by focusing on their media relations regarding the Kurdish question. The media institutions, which shape public opinion, represent bipolar views. It also discusses the political public relations versus propaganda discrepancy, through concepts of democracy and press freedom, by considering the power relations inherent in public relations. The chapter deals with the lack of any national or international study which concerns the use of a public relations-propaganda continuum with regards to the Kurdish issue, an issue that has made Turkey a deeply divided society. The military coup in Turkey was followed by draconian law-and-order measures that virtually annihilated both the left and Kurdish movements. The coup led to the militarization of the Kurdish question. Kurds constitute the largest nation in the world without a state, and they struggle for their cultural and political rights in the countries where they reside.
