ABSTRACT
Political unrest and state-enforced definitions of identity have led to a rise of xenophobic sentiments in Turkey that digital media have facilitated. In the years following the Arab Spring in 2011, the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan introduced the Open Door Policy, which would protect Syrian citizens seeking asylum, which led to millions of refugees crossing the border into Turkey in the years to come. This chapter studies how, between February 2014 and December 2017, Turkish media outlets: Hürriyet, Sabah, and Yeni Şafak have represented Syrian woman refugees and how these portrayals influence public opinions of Syrian women, leading to a growing sense of xenophobia throughout the country: How has Turkey’s media characterized Syrian woman refugees, and how do these portrayals influence public opinions? The results of this study performed via the content analysis method demonstrate that the media’s use of language and literary devices such as syntax, metaphor, and allusion has created a heightened sense of xenophobia and has enforced power. This research conclusively argues that the sociopolitical polarization present within Turkey greatly influences the Turkish nation’s perceptions of Syrians and consequentially challenges the integration of Syrians into Turkish society.
