In what will come of little surprise, Greeks, Armenians and Christians were among the most targeted groups in the highly controlled and discriminatory Turkish media, according to a 2019 Turkish-language report.
Groups targeted in 2019 due to their national, ethnic, religious and / or sexual identity (top ten):
More specifically:
Greeks:
- They were presented as "enemies" due to tensions in Imia, due to certain historical events and due to tension in the eastern Mediterranean.
- Together with Greek Cypriots, they were characterized as a "threat" to the Turks in articles about Cyprus.
- Accused of violating human rights of refugees.
Greek Cypriots:
- were targeted in relation to the 45th anniversary of Turkish invasion of Cyprus and the 36th anniversary of the "foundation" of the unrecognized "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus."
Christians:
- They were targeted because of the March 2019 mosque attack in New Zealand.
- They were presented as a threat to the interests and security of Turkey during the illegal Operation 'Peace Spring' of the Turkish military against the Kurds in Syria.
- They were targeted in connection with the diplomatic crisis between Turkey and EU countries, but also the EU itself, in light of 'Christian identity'.
The 10 newspapers in which most of the articles were recorded with hate speech and / or racist discrimination rhetoric:
The so-called "progressive" Kemalists, as can be seen, are among the top 10 most hateful media outlets in Turkey, demonstrating that racism and discrimination in Turkey is not just reduced to the radical policies and beliefs of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Turkey is one of the lowest ranked countries for media freedoms in the world, is the second most susceptible country surveyed on the European continent and its surrounds to fake news, has the most journalists jailed in the whole world, and 90% of media is government controlled, which is why racism and discrimination against ethnic and religious groups is commonplace in Turkish media.