Condemning and Legitimizing ISIS: Turkey's Pro-Government, Islamist Media and the Ambiguities of Neo-Ottomanism

• In Event: Mediating the Caliphate: Global, Regional and Digital Dimensions of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria

Abstract

ISIS’s territory borders Turkey. The group reportedly uses the long border for the passage of foreign fighters and resources. The complex relationship between ISIS and Turkey reflects in media, especially the pro-government and/or Islamist press. These outlets simultaneously condemn and legitimize ISIS because of the government’s own ambivalent foreign policy. They denounce ISIS and dissociate it from Islam, yet at the same time frame it as a Western plot against Sunni Muslims. They readily use still shots from beheading videos, discuss the beheadings apologetically, and present images of normal life in ISIS-controlled towns. Drawing on soft power and public diplomacy literature, I analyze Turkish officials’ statements and social media messages, and pro-government and Islamist press coverage. I position them within the AKP’s soft power aspirations, neo-Ottomanist impulses and the Islamist re-imaginings of the ummah ISIS shares.

Author

• Bilge Yesil, CUNY College of Staten Island