Social media as an otherization space: Ekşi Sözlük and Armenians

Social media is regarded as the miles stone of the internet, which emerged towards the end of the 20th century but since then has occupied a great place in our lives. Social media, in other words the "new media" is the driving force when it comes to attracting and influencing masses in terms of democratization and social participation. Along with many advantages of social media come its adverse effects, since it serves as a cradle in terms of "othering" people and triggering hate speech. In Turkey; Ekşi Sözlük is a well known social media instrument where "othering" and hate speech dominate. What differenties it from other social media instruments is that the othering in Ekşi Sözlük appears in many forms. "Being an Armenian" and "Armenians" are two coüncepts suffering from this fact. The routine of using the word "Armenian" to refer to negative features and characteristics frequently as well as its use in political issues as an indicator of an ill-characteristics, referring to 1915 events from different perspectives pave the way for different types of othering to appear. This study aims to discuss the landscape in social media, particularly in Ekşi Sözlük, in terms of othering and hate speech.