Mediated Narratives of Syrian Refugees: Mapping Victim-Threat Correlations in Turkish Newspapers

Abstract

Turkey has become the first and main transition hub for Syrian refugees. Furthermore, Turkey is spatially as well as culturally simultaneously referred to as European and Asian or Middle Eastern depending the point of view. Therefore, the representation of refugees in the Turkish press proves significant for the knowledge produced about refugees. Accordingly, this chapter strives to investigate the coverage of Syrian refugees in newspapers, which constitutes only one aspect of the overall reception of the issue in Turkey, and therefore does not claim to be exhaustive. Yet, because daily newspapers are still among the most important media sectors in Turkey, they constitute a special case of knowledge production worth investigating.