Çokkültürlülük Politikaları ve Medya: TRT Kürdi Örneğinde Farklı Dillerde Yayıncılığın Yazılı Medyadaki Yansımaları

Abstract

Mother language is essential for culture to be transmitted from generation to generation. Said quality of language bares rendered it all the more important for differing ethnic and cultural groups, especially in an era that marks the importance of ethnic diversity and revival, that exists under the umbrella of nation-states. That perpetuity of a given language hinges on its mobilization both in private and public communication motivated diverse ethnic groups to put their languages to use- in so doing aspire to preserve their mother languages. In this study I reviewed acts of printing of Turkish Kurds, who capitalized their own means that transpired from Ottoman Era to 2000s, dating as early as Republican era to the present. It basically focuses on the process of Kurdish-media account unfolded in the context of nation-state, nationalism, relevant culture politics and multiculturalism that in the last instance crystallized in the form of TRT Kurd as a media organ in second language. This work consists of three sections. In the first section I laid out a descriptive and evaluative framework in regards to the concepts such as “nationalism”, “language” and “culture”. To this respect, I argued how multicultural politics adopted by nation-state politics undermine multiculturalism, how it shaped the sphere of media and with what counter-effects it were defied. In the second section I sought traces regarding the trajectory of multiculturalist policies in terms of printing in second language in Turkey. I took a closer look at Republican general policies that in the last instance crystallised in the form TRT Kurd. Third section deals with analyses concerning news across Turkish press in relation to printing in different languages and dialects with a focus on TRT Kurd. As a methodology I draw upon Critical Discourse Analysis to review news selected from newspapers. In so doing I aimed at deciphering underlying discourses and messages carried by Turkish press in respect to print in second language initiated by then-government.