Representation of Afghan refugees and migrants in the Turkish press

Due to climate changes, drought, crises, and conflicts, there is an increase in migration from the southern hemisphere of the world to the northern hemisphere. Although migration is not a new phenomenon or a new social problem, climate changes, drought, crises/conflicts, and global-scale economic crises force people living in the southern hemisphere of the world to migrate to more developed Western countries. On the one hand, the cultural adaptation problems of immigrants to the host country, on the other hand, the unwillingness of the citizens of the host country to accept immigrants and share social welfare with them, stand out more as separate social issues. Afghanistan has long been a country of emigration due to war, economic problems, security, and sectarian conflicts. Afghans immigrated primarily to neighboring countries such as Iran, Pakistan, and later to Turkey and from Turkey to European countries, first due to the Soviet occupation and later due to the pressures of the Taliban. The last migration wave of Afghans to Turkey started in mid-2015 with the decision of European countries to open their borders to immigrants. According to the data of the General Directorate of Migration Management, Afghan immigrants have the highest population in Turkey after Syrians. The subject of this thesis is the representation of Afghan immigrants/refugees in the news media. In the literature of news sociology, attention is drawn to the importance of how the media presents events, people, and immigrants; because people's perceptions and thinking structures about the world they live in rely heavily on the news and information they obtain through the media. Therefore, how immigrants or refugees are portrayed in the news media of the host country is an important issue. In this study, the representation of Afghan immigrants and refugees in the Turkish press was analyzed. This research analyzes a total of 926 news on Afghan immigrants/refugees at 4 outstanding Turkish national dailies (Cumhuriyet, Hürriyet, Sabah and Yeni Şafak) for a period of 6 years (from 2015 to 2021), employing content analysis research technique. The study revealed that Afghan refugees are exposed to significant symbolic destruction and/or marginalization. It has been seen that news has been made mostly about negative events such as being caught on the migration route or the sinking of a boat, forensic events such as committing crimes or being exposed to violence and reducing the wages of workers in the host country as very cheap labor in the labor market. While it is seen that Afghans are presented through a dual representation as "victims" or "treaters" in the news media, it has been seen that they can be "political weapons" in political matters or "scapegoats" for economic crises.