On the Representation of ‘Others’ at Europe’s Borders: The Case of Iraqi Kurds

This article unearths and examines the representation of Iraqi Kurds in the Turkish media during the 2003 Iraq War. In order to identify the discursive patterns that were created about Iraqi Kurds, 350 news articles from Hrriyet, one of the most widely read and influential newspapers in Turkey, were examined. Our analysis identified an Orientalist and belittling representation which constructed Iraqi Kurds as a 'backward', 'tribal', 'looter', 'plotter', 'other', and which linked such Orientalist representations with a rising Iraqi Kurdish 'threat' against the 'civilized' Turkish nation-state. The study signals how Turkey's internal issues with its own Kurdish population have particular consequences for those who are outside the Turkish borders (Iraqi Kurds). In particular, the paper draws attention to the media representation and stigmatization of subjugated groups at the borders of Europe, focusing on how Europe's 'others' construct Orientalist notions of superiority and inferiority when engaging with their 'East'.