Batı medyasında Suriye'nin kuzeyindeki Kürtler: BBC ve VOA yayını (2014-2018)

This study seeks to analyze the Western media coverage, the BBC and VOA in particular, of the Kurds of Northern Syria from September 2014 to March 2018. While doing so, a special emphasis is placed on the analysis of the political and military context of the Syrian crisis as well as the historical Kurdish representation in the West. With the emergence of the Islamic State (IS) as a serious security threat to Western citizens, Syrian Kurds and the Kurdish groups fighting against the jihadist organization in Syria have become important actors for Western governments who wanted to employ them in the anti-IS fight. In accordance with their growing profile in the West, Western media networks began to report on them extensively in their coverage. It is argued in this thesis that the Kurds of Northern Syria were covered by Western media in a positive light with the objective of promoting the legitimacy of the Kurdish organizations operating there and with the intention of garnering international support and sympathy for Syrian Kurds.