On the day Syrian rebels, backed by Turkish troops and air-power, captured Dabiq from Islamic State, and hours before two separate a suicide attacks killed three police officers and injured several people in the city of Gaziantep, the state-run Anatolian News Agency came up with the headline: \u201cTurkish PM slams foreign media’s coverage of Turkey\u201d.<\/p>\n
The agency quoted Prime Minister Binali Yildirim as accusing international media outlets of launching a \u201cblack propaganda\u201d campaign against Turkey. He claimed the foreign media was manipulated by the Gulen movement, suspected to be behind the July 15th<\/sup> coup attempt.<\/p>\n Prime Minister said the purpose of such a \u201cperception operation\u201d was to give an impression that there was \u201cno stability in Turkey\u201d, “there is war in Turkey”, “there is no rule of law in Turkey”, or “people are dying every day in Turkey”.<\/p>\n Mr. Yildirim is not the only one holding the foreign media in contempt.\u00a0 President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan, had previously accused western journalists of supporting terrorism and siding with those responsible for the failed coup. \u00a0The anti-western and conspiracy-driven rhetoric has been even stronger in pro-government press, with a good measure of anti-Semitism thrown in there, too.<\/p>\n When it comes to coverage of Turkey, especially after the July 15th<\/sup> failed coup, it is fair to say that the foreign media was not beyond reproach. With few exceptions, most news organizations took long time to assess the magnitude of the threat facing Turkey; some have flippantly dismissed the whole thing as a show.<\/p>\n For a short while, journalists, commentators and academics in the west, with a long record of Turkey expertise had to struggle to be heard in the cacophony of the Gulenist public relations machine and the inevitable backlash to unsubstantiated charges laid against tens of thousands of people in Turkey.<\/p>\n Professor of international relations and Haberturk columnist Soli Ozel has complained<\/a> that \u201cthe Western media did not fathom the trauma of the coup attempt\u201d. His criticism and frustration with the media\u2019s pre-conceived and superficial coverage were well justified.<\/p>\n His complaint that the foreign media lacked sensitivity and failed to show solidarity and empathy was less so.<\/p>\n It is reasonable to criticize the media for not reporting accurately and speedily, or for shortcomings in investigation and analysis. Journalists should be held to account if they do not sufficiently question their sources or if their judgement is clouded by information fed to them by lobbyists and campaigners.<\/p>\n However, unlike foreign politicians and international organizations, they should not be expected to show solidarity or empathy to anyone other than their fellow colleagues. \u00a0Their job is to report impartially and scrupulously.<\/p>\n It took the foreign media a while to make sense of Turkey\u2019s very complicated picture, but when they finally did, their reports and analysis brought genuine insight to the western public opinion.<\/p>\n Among others, Dexter Filkins<\/a>\u00a0 at The New Yorker, David Gardner<\/a> and lead writers \u00a0at the Financial Times, Alexander Christie-Miller<\/a> at The Times, \u00a0Peter Preston<\/a> at The Guardian and Mark Lowen<\/a> at the BBC, have consistently presented a balanced and objective view of Turkey.<\/p>\n On any given day, the news organizations in the UK, give considerable coverage to Turkey.<\/p>\n With this in mind, my first reaction to Turkish Prime Minister\u2019s latest outburst was to scan the UK media for their news and comments on Turkey.<\/p>\n The BBC<\/a> led with the capture of symbolically important Syrian town of Dabiq by Turkish backed rebels. Channel 4 <\/a>was explaining what really was going on in Syria and where Turkey fitted in that picture. Sky News was commenting that Turkey\u2019s latest action in Syria may end up aiding Aleppo before it crumbles completely.<\/p>\n The Sunday Times reported on the significance of driving Isis out of Dabiq and quoted one Turkish official on Twitter saying: \u201cEuphrates Shield at work. You\u2019re welcome, world.\u201d<\/p>\n In the Guardian\/Observer, Peter Preston<\/a> reminded us that \u201cthere were 126 journalists in Turkey\u2019s jails now \u2013 more than China, Iran and Egypt put together. And 2,500 or so Turkish writers, editors and broadcasters have lost their jobs since the coup that failed\u201d.<\/p>\n The Independent told the story<\/a> of a child bride, married at the age of 14 and dead at 15 \u00a0after giving birth; adding that Turkey had one\u00a0of the highest rates of child marriage in Europe, with an estimated 15 percent of girls married before they turn 18.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, there was news of a suicide bomber killing three police officers and wounding at least nine people in Gaziantep, and another murder by suspected PKK militants of a conscript in southeastern province of Hakkari.<\/p>\n Social media was full of comments reacting to President Erdogan\u2019s latest controversial remark<\/a>, saying that there were two ways of dying. One \u201ceither died like a man or like a madame\u201d, offending every female but Christian women even more so.<\/p>\n Others turned their attention to allegations<\/a> of torture in Turkey\u2019s over-crowded prisons. There was outrage, too, at the gruesome details<\/a> told in an interview by the mother of the conscript lynched by a mob on the night of the July the 15th<\/sup> coup. She said she was doubly heartbroken when the family was denied an Islamic funeral for her young son, who had been ordered to take part in the coup attempt.<\/p>\n So, after all, there might be some<\/em> truth in the Prime Minister\u2019s words.<\/p>\n The free media has, indeed, been portraying Turkey as a country with a \u201cwar going on, where \u201cpeople are dying every day and where there is no rule of law\u201d.<\/p>\n Who can blame them?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On the day Syrian rebels, backed by Turkish troops and air-power, captured Dabiq from Islamic State, and hours before two separate a suicide attacks killed three police officers and injured several people in the city of Gaziantep, the state-run Anatolian News Agency came up with the headline: \u201cTurkish PM slams foreign media’s coverage of Turkey\u201d. 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