Theoretically, the media play an important role in integrating nationalities in societies while at the same time preserving its own homogeneity despite diversity, and even in transforming this diversity, sometime, into a positive variable supporting economic development. This is done through balanced representation of these nationalities in the audio and visual media, and dealing with their issues with keen interest reflecting a respect for their existence as a social component.
Opposite to this perceived role, the media can contribute towards straining the relation between the state and nationalities. Patterns of this tension are multiple and vary depending on the overall situation of the nationalities. More crises are created or exacerbated by the media in involved states where nationalities suffer from political and social marginalization. The more they exercise their political, social and economic rights, the less the influence of the media.
Two Main Patterns
What should be noted in this context is that the negative role that the media can play is wider in some regional states of ethnic diversity, such as Turkey and Iran, where they exacerbate the nationalities' sentiments of exclusion and marginalization due to either political orientations focused on discrimination against them, or a widely spread social perception of them, or the failure of media to deal with relevant issues with a considerable level of awareness and professionalism.
In this context, two patterns of discrimination against nationalities in the Turkish and Iranian media, that can cause multiple crises with the state, can be outlined as follows:
1- Marginalization and Exclusion. The Iranian media, due to its manner of dealing with issues of nationalities, triggered multiple crises, serves as a good and evident instance. It even gave rise to several views that this is likely a deliberate approach, especially because it comes amid a push to further entrench the influence of the Persian nationality at the various institutions and power centers of the political regime.
While the regime sought to launch region-specific TV channels that are representative of all regions, including those inhabited by nationalities, state-run TV channels continue to receive most of state's attention, and their approaches became to trigger several crises with the nationalities.
For instance, a TV show aired by the state-run IRIB TV2 triggered wide protests that continued for several days in Ahwaz region where protestors voiced anger over the show's criticism against people of the region.
Protesters considered the show a continuation of policy adopted by the regime's institutions against Arab nationals. The policy, for them, is part and parcel of attempts to make demographic changes to their region through bringing in Lurs and Persians. The show, whose audience are mostly young, displayed a demographic map of Iran that ignores the existence of Arabs in Ahwaz. Toys clad in traditional attire representing all of the country's nationalities except Arabs were placed on the map. Arabs were replaced on the map by toys with traditional clothing of Bakhtiari tribes.
Additionally, some newspapers play the same role attempting to establish a negative mental image of nationalities, especially Arabs and Azeris. For instance, sometimes they portray Azeris as people who don't care about hygiene and order. This triggered wide protests in Azeri areas.
2- Political Triage. It is a pattern of media discrimination against certain nationalities in society and is focused on screening their political attitudes and affiliations. This is also one of ways pursued by the Turkish media to deal with the Kurds. For instance, they label them either evil or good people, depending on their support or opposition to the ruling Justice and Development Party.
In political shows, supporters of opposition Kurdish parties are usually defamed with an emphasis on that they are small in number and are not representative of those belonging to the Turkish nationality. Moreover, Turkish drama is keenly interested in showing the Kurds and discriminating between them and other opponents. That is, the Kurds who are not from the opposition are positively portrayed in such dramas, while opponents are portrayed as terrorists and fugitives from justice living in the mountains and the country's borders. At the same time, whole dramas are produced to show the life of the Kurds according to the same political triage.
The policy pursued by the Turkish media to deal with the Kurds in the past period became evident in two important developments. The first is the Iraqi Kurdistan independence referendum. The second is Turkey’s military intervention in Afrin, Syria, where the state-run media attempted to demonize the Kurds supporting the referendum and opposing the military operation. They considered such position to be against the Turkish state as a whole and not measures taken by the ruling regime.
Ankara’s increasing fear from plans to establish a Kurdish state and the joint efforts of the Kurds in Turkey and Syria to support such attempts, prompted the launch of campaigns to justify the military intervention and label opponents as traitors in a way that outraged the Kurds in Turkey.
Certainly, Turkish Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s announcement of snap parliamentary and presidential elections on June 24, 2018, a year and a half earlier than they were due to take place, will prompt some of the media to establish the adoption of this pattern. This is especially so in light of some Kurdish parties’ rejection of the move as an attempt by Erdogan to exploit the military operation in Afrin in particular to further consolidate his power in Turkey. This prompted the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party, the third largest parliamentary bloc, to withdraw from a session held to vote on approving Erdogan’s proposal.
In conclusion, it can be argued that an escalation in tensions in the relations between Iran and Turkey on the one side, and their ethnic nationalities, on the other, remains a strong possibility in the coming period. This is especially so in light of the internal, regional and international pressures each of the two states have come under, that would impose direct consequences on the patterns adopted by the media for dealing with the issues of nationalities, particularly because the international community recently showed increasing interest.
