The Hugo Valentin Centre Master Thesis in Holocaust and Genocide Studies Syrian Kurds amid Violence Depictions of Mass Violence against Syrian Kurdistan in Kurdish Media, 2014–2019 Student: Abdulilah Ibrahim Term and year: Spring 2021 Credits: 45 Supervisor: Tomislav Dulić Word count: 28553 Table of Contents List of tables ...................................................................................................................................... 2 List of figures .................................................................................................................................... 2 Abstract............................................................................................................................................... 3 Acknowledgment ............................................................................................................................ 4 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 5 Aims and Research Questions ................................................................................................. 6 Structure of the thesis ................................................................................................................ 7 Research overview ...................................................................................................................... 7 Theory and method...................................................................................................................14 Empirical analysis ...................................................................................................................... 20 Historical overview ...................................................................................................................20 Kurdish media ............................................................................................................................24 Analysis .........................................................................................................................................28 Conclusions...................................................................................................................................... 92 List of tables Table 1. Frequencies and percentages of media documents with codes representing images of mass violence. .................................................................................................29 Table 2. Frequencies and percentages of media language assessments. .......................33 Table 3. Frequency of documents with actors coded in media articles. .......................34 List of figures Figure 1. An integrated process model of framing. ........................................................15 Figure 2: Political parties in the Kurdish regions ...........................................................21 Figure 3. De facto cantons of Rojava ..............................................................................24 Figure 4. Percentages of mass violence-coded segments in Rudaw articles. ...............30 Figure 5. Percentages of mass violence-coded segments in ANF articles. ...................31 Figure 6. Percentages of Rudaw language and frame assessments. ..............................33 Figure 7. Percentages of ANF language and frame assessments. ..................................33 Figure 8. Percentages of actors coded in Rudaw articles. ..............................................34 Figure 9. Percentages of actors coded in ANF articles...................................................35 Figure 10. Language tone of both Kurdish media organizations, Rudaw and ANF. ....36 Figure 11. A Venn diagram of the impact of ideology on media representation of mass violence. ............................................................................................................................69 2 Abstract This thesis investigates depictions in the Kurdish media (Rudaw and Firat News Agency (ANF)) of mass violence perpetrated against Kurdish civilians in northern and northeastern Syria – an area known to Kurds as Rojava – in recent years. Articles from two media organizations were subject to mixed-method text analysis (quantitative and qualitative) to uncover how mass violence was portrayed. The theory of framing in the media is used to show how violence is committed and what role ideology plays in this process. It is subsequently used in order to uncover commonly used frames for the roles played by various actors involved in mass violence. Hence, a comparison is made between the contents of the two media institutions. The results primarily relate to the role of ideology in the coverage of mass violence by the selected Kurdish media outlets, which are affiliated with two major Kurdish political parties, one left-leaning and one right-leaning. Findings revealed different aspects of mass violence, governed principally by nationalist and partisan orientations. Nationalist agendas played a significant role in Rudaw’s content and a smaller one in ANF’s. Partisan agendas had roughly the same magnitude in both, and the two outlets clashed politically but met nationalistically in many areas. The research questions were addressed through a content analysis of tens of stories disseminated by both Kurdish media organizations during the same time-space. Keywords: Ideology, Kurds, mass violence, Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), Rudaw, Firat News Agency. 3 Acknowledgment I would like to express my gratitude to my family and friends for their encouragement and guidance during my master’s degree. I would like to thank my wife, who inspired me and boosted my morale during my study. I would also like to express my sincere appreciation to Professor Dulić for his supervision, feedback, and conversations, which simplified the task for me. 4 Introduction The prolonged and complex conflict in Syria which remains ongoing at the time of writing began to escalate after peaceful protests were made against the government of Bashar al-Assad in March 2011. Thereafter, mass violence– conducted by the conflicting parties, terror groups (Islamic State (ISIS) and other extremist groups), international and regional interference (the US, Russia, Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, etc.) – appeared to reach the Kurdish regions,1 where civilians were attacked by various actors.2 The conflict in Syria was dynamic, as it involved many parties. On the one hand, the Syrian regime allowed the deployment of its allies on the ground, namely Russia, Iranians and the Lebanese Shiite militia of Hezbollah. The opposition factions, on the other hand, were supported by Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. The worsening of the conflict coincided with the rise of the terrorist group of ISIS, which posed a significant threat to the Western world and the Kurdish regions, principally after capturing large swaths of Syria and Iraq in 2014.3 Syrian Kurds aimed at protecting their regions and establishing autonomy4 to avoid a possible security vacuum following the withdrawal of Syrian government troops in 2012.5 Yet, since then, the Kurdish region in northern and northeastern Syria – known as Western Kurdistan, Syrian Kurdistan, and, in Kurdish, Rojava – has remained under constant attack from an array of actors, including ISIS, Turkey, and its Syrian militia proxies (see Figure 3).67 The Syrian civil war has received a great deal of scholarly attention across the world in journals, books, articles, and news reports, including the involvement of and impact 1 Cengiz Gunes and Robert Lowe, “The Impact of the Syrian War on Kurdish Politics Across the Middle East,” n.d., 20. 2 “Children Among 10 Kurdish Civilians Killed in Shelling from Turkish-Controlled Area in Syria,” Voice of America, December 03, 2019. 3 Galang, “The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria,” 1. 4 Loqman Radpey, “Kurdish Regional Self-Rule Administration in Syria: A New Model of Statehood and Its Status in International Law Compared to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq,” Japanese Journal of Political Science 17 (September 9, 2016), https://doi.org/10.1017/S1468109916000190. 5 “Analysis: Syrian Kurds Sense Freedom, Power Struggle Awaits,” Reuters, August 31, 2012. 6 “Syrian Kurdistan,” The Kurdish Project (blog), accessed May 15, 2021, https://thekurdishproject.org/kurdistan-map/syrian-kurdistan/. 7 Jiyar Gol, “‘The World Has Closed Its Eyes on Us,’” BBC News, October 27, 2019, sec. Middle East, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-50181855. 5 on the Kurdish region, which throughout this thesis will also be referred to by its Kurdish name, Rojava.8 Aims and Research Questions The aim of this thesis is to examine how mass violence in Syria’s Kurdish regions was presented through the lens of the Kurdish media outlets Rudaw and Firat News Agency (ANF) between 2014 and 2019. Principally, these news media focused on military attacks launched by various actors involved in Syria’s crisis; thus, the study analyzes the frames created by both media outlets to represent the violent actions of ISIS and Turkey, through its Syrian militia proxies. Following the Syrian uprising in March 2011, the Syrian regime withdrew its troops from the Kurdish regions, mobilizing its entire military power in the areas targeted by Syrian opposition militants. In the meantime, Syrian Kurds established their own military wing of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Rojava. ISIS, as well as