Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Discourse and Identity in Turkısh Media, Ayşe Dilara Bostan; Süheyla Nil Mustafa, Editör, Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., Berlin, ss.115-139, 2021
TRT Kûrdi is among the thirteen different TV channels that TRT (Turkish Radio and Television Corporation) contains within itself. As the first and only channel that broadcasts in Kurdish in Turkey, TRT Kûrdi started 24 hours broadcasting with the name TRT 6 in January 2009. The channel, which was named TRT Kûrdi in January 2015, broadcasts in the Kirmanci, Sorani and Zazaki dialects of the Kurdish language. However, most of the programs are in the Kirmanci dialect since it is more widely spoken in Turkey. The broadcast stream of TRT Kûrdi includes TV series, movies and also a wide range of programs about culture, music, entertainment, news, children, education, and sports. The fact that TRT Kûrdi has a variety of programs rather than focusing on a specific theme is an indication that Kurdish cultural identity is being rebuilt through this channel.
Although TRT Kûrdi is a public broadcasting channel, it is considered that it cannot be independent from the discourse of state power. For this reason, it is argued that the “Kurdish” subjectivity and thus the Kurdish cultural identity are defined and reproduced by the norms set in the hegemonic discourses of TRT Kûrdi. This study will explore the discursive positioning of the Kurdish normative subject in the state’s broadcasting TV channel. For that end, the series Ciran Ciran will be analyzed in the context of the subject positions created for Kurdish cultural identity by using qualitative content analysis method.
In this TV series, the Kurdish subject who has come from Turkey’s periphery is positioned vis-á-vis another Kurdish subject, who has lived in Britain for a long time and who is secular, modern, and educated. These modernized/transformed Kurds who have forgotten their native language and culture are disapproved. It can be said that what is deemed modern is only tolerated to some extent and certain elements of the traditional Kurdish culture are approved such as the language, traditional family ties, and ethnic solidarity while other elements of Kurdish culture such as tribal violence against women are disapproved and seriously challenged. Thus, the normative discourse regarding Kurdish subjectivity is produced along these binary oppositions, which put the subjects in certain relational, oppositional, and hierarchical positions. Although the AKP government, to a large extent, adopts an Islamist political stance, there is almost no reference to the Islamic components of the Kurdish identity in the TV series. As it is well known, many Kurds associate their ethnic identity with their Islamic religious identity. It is argued that the Kurdish subjectivity that is presented throughout this TV series broadcasted in the TRT Kûrdi is in line with AKP government’s existing policies regarding the Kurdish issue, which were based on the peace settlement with the Kurdish nationalists who highlight the secular, cultural, ethnic, and thus distinctive components of the Kurdish identity and disregard the Islamic components that are shared with the Turkish society in general.
Keywords: TRT Kûrdi (Turkish Radio and Television Corporation broadcasting in Kurdish), Kurdish cultural identity, TV series Ciran Ciran, Discourse analysis, Qualified content analysis.