Diaspora Journalism and Turkey’s Virtual “Imagined Communities”: Syrian Media

Year 2024, Volume: 12 Issue: 3, 1140 - 1153

Tülay Atay

https://doi.org/10.18506/anemon.1544335

Abstract

The media provides a field of self-expression for individuals, as well as an area for them to announce other avenues of self-expression they’re participating in. Individuals usually express their thoughts and feelings at moments of solitude when they are away from their loved ones and their homeland. Such themes of longing, alienation, solitude, connection, home, and separation are quite often the subject of literature and songs. Those who live far from their homeland, or who have been forced to do so, are more attuned to the events unfolding “back home,” and more sensitive to the plight of their fellow citizens. Even the most ordinary news from their homeland can be an exciting piece of information. This study is linked to the author’s own journeys, and its timing was made more fitting by the earthquake. The author has distilled her own knowledge and views from the ocean of existing literature available to them and brought them together. This article examines every aspect of the concept of the diaspora; its main focus is to showcase how a displaced community living in a foreign county has attempted to create a network of mass communication. As well as investigating the profiles and the eco-politics of six Syrian-origin media companies based in Turkey, interviews with directors and employees reveal the views on diaspora media of those who fled to Turkey as a result of the “Arab Spring” rebellion. Turkey has always been a land of migration due to its geographical location, but this is perhaps the first time in its history that it has been so closely acquainted with the concept of diaspora media.

Keywords

Journalism, Diaspora, Eco-Politics of Syrian Media in Türkiye

Project Number

YOK

Di(y)aspora Gazeteciliği ve Türkiye’deki “Hayali Sanal Cemaatler”: Suriyeli Medya

Abstract

Medya, bireylerin kendini ifade edebilecekleri bir alan olduğu gibi kendini ifade ettikleri diğer alanların da duyurulabilmesine imkân sağlayan bir mecradır. İnsanların duygu ve düşüncelerini ifade ettikleri zamanlar genellikle yalnız oldukları, sevdiklerinden, memleketinden uzakta oldukları zamanlardır. Bu nedenle özellikle edebiyat, müzik alanlarında; özlem, gurbet, yalnızlık, bağlılık, memleket, ayrılık gibi konuların işlendiğine sıkça rastlanır. Memleketinden uzak yerlere giden -gitmek zorunda kalan/bırakılan- insanlar hem memleketleri hem de orada yaşayanlarla ilgili olaylara karşı daha duyarlı olurlar. Memleketinden aldığı “sıradan bir haber” bile o kişi için heyecan verici olabilmektedir. Bu çalışma, yazarının kendi yolculuğu ile bütünleşen ve zamanlaması depremle isabetli hale gelen bir yazıdan ibaret. Yazar kendi entelektüel ve kişisel birikimini literatürün okyanus büyüklüğündeki bilgisinden damıtarak bir araya getirdiler. Makale, diyaspora kavramını tüm boyutları ile ele alarak temelde, ana vatanından başka bir yere göç edip yerleşen bir kitlenin ev sahibi ülkede oluşturdukları kitlesel iletişim kurma çabasını ortaya koymayı amaçlıyor. Bu araştırma, Türkiye’de yerleşik Suriye kökenli 6 medya kuruluşunun profillerini, eko-politiğini ortaya koyarken yöneticileri/çalışanları ile yapılmış görüşmeler sayesinde “Arap Baharı” başkaldırıları sonucu Türkiye’ye sığınan/göç eden grubun diyaspora medyası hakkındaki bakış açılarını saptamaya çalıştı. Türkiye coğrafi konumu açısından hep bir göçler ülkesi oldu ama belki de tarihinde ilk kez “diyaspora medyası” kavramıyla bu denli yakından tanışıyor.

Keywords

GAZETECİLİK, DİYASPORA, TÜRKİYE'DEKİ SURİYELİ MEDYANIN EKONOMİ POLİTİĞİ

Ethical Statement

MAKALE ETİK KURALLARA UYGUN OLARAK YAZILMIŞTIR.

Supporting Institution

YOK

Project Number

YOK

Thanks

ÜNİVERSİTEME ÇOK TEŞEKKÜR EDERİM.

References

• Alçı, N. (2022, Temmuz 1). Suriyelilerin en büyük kanalı Suriye TV'nin Sefaköy'deki stüdyolarında bir gün. Habertürk Gazetecilik A.Ş.
• Andén-Papadopoulos, K., & Pantti, M. (2013). The media work of Syrian diaspora activists: Brokering between the protest and mainstream media. International Journal of Communication, 7, 22.
• Anderson, B. (1995). Hayali Cemaatler, (Tr. İskender Savaşır). Metis Yayınları, İstanbul.
• Anderson, B. (2006). Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. Verso.
• Appadurai, A. (1996) Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
• Atay, T. (2019). Mediating Migration, Global Media, and Communication. European Journal of Communication, 34(6), 698–701.
• Babilie, D. (2021, November 2). Why Syrians face deportation from Turkey over banana jokes. BBC Arabic.
• Baser, B. and Swain, A. (2010) Stateless Diaspora Groups and Their Repertoires of Nationalist Activism in Host Countries. Journal of International Relations, 8 (1): 37–60.
• BBC. (2023, April 19). Syria media guide. BBC World News.
• Blakemore, E. (2019, March 29). What was the Arab Spring and how did it spread? National Geographic.
• Bozdag, C., Hepp, A. and Suna, L. (2012). Diasporic Media as the ‘Focus’ of Communicative Networking Among Migrants. In Isabelle Rigoni and Eugenie Saitta (eds.) Mediating Cultural Diversity in a Globalized Public Space (pp. 96-115). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Bozkurt, V. (1999). Sanal cemaatler. Birikim Dergisi, 127, 1-8.
• Chari, T. (2015). Longing and belonging: An exploration of the online news-consumption practices of the Zimbabwean diaspora. In O. Ogunyemi (Ed.), Journalism, audiences and diaspora (pp. 235-249). London: Palgrave Macmillan UK.
• Collelo, T. (1988). Syria, a country study. Library of Congress Federal Research Division. Washington DC.
• Dayan, D. (1999). Media and Diasporas. In: Gripsrud J (ed.) Television and Common Knowledge. London & New York: Routledge, 18–33.
• De Angelis, E. (2011). Syrian News Websites: A Negotiated Identity. Oriente Moderno, 91(1), 105–124.
• Dell, A. C. (2021). The Turkish-German Bridge: A Unique Socio-Spatial Construction in Kreuzberg. Turkish Journal of Diaspora Studies, 1(2), 19-36.
• Dil Derneği. (n.d.). Dil Derneği Online Sözlük.
• Dufoix, S. (2008). Diasporas. Univ of California Press.
• Eisenstein, E. L. (1968). Some conjectures about the impact of printing on Western society and thought: A preliminary report. The Journal of Modern History, 40(1), 1-56.
• Georgiou, M. (2006). Diaspora, Identity and the Media: Diasporic Transnationalism and Mediated Spatialities. Cresskill: Hampton Press.
• Habjan, J. (2016). Novel fiction, newspaper reality. Neohelicon, 43(2), 461-471.
• Hegde, R. S. (2016). Mediating migration. John Wiley & Sons.
• Hegel, G. W. F. (1998). Jenaer Notizenbuch (1803–1806). In Gesammelte Werke. Band 5: Schriften und Entwürfe (1799–1808) (M. Baum & K. R. Meist, Eds., pp. 483–508). Hamburg: Felix Meiner Verlag.
• Issa, A. (2016). Syria’s New Media Landscape: Independent Media Born out of War. Middle East Institute, MEI Policy Paper 2016-9, 40 pages.
• Kaya, A. (1997). Constructing diasporas: Turkish hip-hop youth in Berlin. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
• Mevsimler, M. & Ponzanesi, S. (2017). Mediating migration. Feminist Media Studies, 17:4, 695-697.
• Nişanyan Sözlük. (n.d.). Nişanyan Sözlük Çağdaş Türkçenin Etimolojisi.
• Ogunyemi, O. (2015). Introduction: Conceptualizing the Media of Diaspora. In: Ogunyemi, O. (eds) Journalism, Audiences and Diaspora (pp. 1-2). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
• Orient News. (n.d.). About [LinkedIn]. LinkedIn.
• Shamaa, M. (n.d.). Ahmed Rehawi expelled the political analyst Oktay Yılmaz after he attacked him and insulted the Syrians (YouTube).
• Tsagarousianou, R., (2017). Rethinking the concept of diaspora: mobility, connectivity and communication in a globalised world. Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture 1(1), 52-65.
• Türk Dil Kurumu. (n.d.). Türk Dil Kurumu sözlükleri.
• Reporters Without Borders. (n.d.). Syria. Reporters Without Borders.
• UNHCR (2019a) Registered Syrian Refugees Source - UNHCR, Government of Turkey.
• UNHCR (2019b) Greece (Updated 22 June 2018).
• Vertovec, S. (1997). Three meanings of “diaspora,” exemplified among South Asian religions. Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies, 6(3), 277-299.
• Witteborn, S. (2014). Forced migrants, emotive practice and digital heterotopia. Crossings: Journal of Migration & Culture, 5(1), 73-85.
• Yaldız, F. (2013). Diaspora kavramı: tarihçe, gelişme ve tartışmalar. Hacettepe Üniversitesi.