Türkiye is house to a big refugee inhabitants. Indeed, it has the biggest refugee neighborhood from neighboring Syria. Though it takes pleasure in being a haven for the oppressed, deprived individuals fleeing conflicts, some politicians and social media customers stoke tensions between locals and refugees. Experts say media, notably social media, play a significant position on this subject.
Experts level out that discriminatory language utilized in news tales is among the many contributors to a mindset that views individuals who needed to flee their international locations as “evil” or foreigners in search of to use Türkiye. Media experiences perpetuated on social media networks, accompanied by discriminatory movies and pictures, additional add to this portrayal.
Professor Mehmet Barış Horzum of Sakarya University mentioned posts concentrating on refugees and migrants rapidly unfold on social media, usually with “devastating consequences.” An data know-how professional, Horzum famous that “cyberbullying” migrants and refugees left an irreversible influence on them. “For instance, when someone tweeted a post about ‘some Afghan who injured (a Turkish national), a large number of people, without verifying the story, share it. Those sharing it may not intend their post to harm but it harms an innocent person,” he advised Anadolu Agency (AA) on Thursday.
Horzum famous that the “correct” use of know-how towards disinformation was essential as a result of digital platforms have been essentially the most fundamental supply of shared data. “When used improperly, digital media trigger several psychological, sociological and criminal issues. It may lead to consequences like increasing xenophobia, attacks on migrants and refugees and discrimination toward disadvantaged communities,” he mentioned.
He additionally famous social media algorithms performed a job in fast-spreading racist posts. “Algorithms are methods of analyzing possibilities of interactions of social media users with topics they might be interested in. They are based on what we share on social media and prioritize the content exclusive to us based on those posts while offering content. In turn, it reinforces the thought that others share our opinion. So, even if our opinion is wrong, its prevalence may convince us to advocate stronger for them.”
Associate professor Nursem Keskin Aksay, a sociology professional from Ibn Haldun University, mentioned the language is the place to begin of discrimination towards migrants and refugees in standard media and social media platforms. “This group of people already faces a barrier when you call them foreigners or aliens. Many media outlets use this term but we need to eliminate this alienating language,” Aksay mentioned. She additionally highlighted that the media used the phrase “refugee” each for migrants and refugees, although they’d very completely different meanings. She mentioned the “bad” portrayal of refugees within the standard media displays itself on social media too. “On social media, refugees and migrants are always at the center of debates for bad things they’ve done. People do not think twice while sharing photos, videos and posts with discriminatory language. At the end of the day, they are portrayed as people with low income without any intellectual past or education and people who are in Türkiye solely to exploit it,” she mentioned.
Aksay mentioned {that a} discriminatory mindset tries to cram all refugees into “one identity” no matter their numerous variations and as a rule, confronted a derogatory mindset portraying them as people who find themselves not abiding by guidelines and missing etiquette. She famous that her area research and research by different researchers confirmed that refugees genuinely appreciated Türkiye and tried to adapt to the principles of the nation and Turkish society whereas on the identical time preserving their very own tradition.
