1 Chapter one: Introduction/Background
The Kurds are one of the world's most populated region without a State, which makes up large minorities in Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. Their history is known by marginalization and oppression. However a few Kurds might be nearly accomplishing their extremely old mission for autonomy in a Middle East experiencing the shakings of Syria's civil war, Iraq's weakening, and conflict with the self-declared Islamic State.
This region borders Iran to the east, Turkey to the north, Syria to the west and the rest of Iraq to the south. However, this region has been a victims of a number of attacks ranging from genocide to racism and even political hostility. The most significant one they are facing now is the ISIS (the widely held abbreviation for Islamic State) terrorism.
This group are called ‘the child of war’ as its members seek to reshape the world around them by acts of violence. ISIS currently poses the largest terrorist threat to the international community and to world peace. It come up from being an obscure terror sect to confronting the security of the world. Unlike al Qaeda – which maintains strict criteria and protocols for membership, asserts centralized control, and focuses on conducting carefully planned, spectacular attacks – the Islamic State has adopted a “let a thousand flowers bloom” approach that invites geographically-dispersed, self-proclaimed affiliates and inspires uncoordinated attacks (Flournoy & Fontaine, 2015:2). It has built up strength in massive zones of Iraq and Syria as a self-proclaimed Caliphate, and a lot of people see it as a State. Its leaderships have made known there version of sharia law; one that is severe, uneven, and with minute respect for human life. Most Islamic scholars have denounced this religious translation, and underline that verses taken by ISIS from the Quran or Hadith to legitimize their law are grossly out of context.
They are known to have agenda of destroying the political, social and cultural life of the region and its influence in Syria and Iraq as a whole. One thing that seems special about ISIS is their disinterest in anything western in nature knowing fully well Kurds have ties with the United States. In simple terms, the kurds are doing their best to fight back with all security and legal means to end this conflict.
Peshmerga has been one very strong Kurdish force that have been defending the territories of Kurdish region. They have been well trained and equipped to face the peril of IS. There is no unified command and control of the Peshmerga, which number anywhere between 80,000 and 240,000; the force is split into two factions under Iraqi Kurdistan’s two main political parties – the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) (Patin, n.d.:12). They have been supported by the United States, France, United Kingdom and Germany. Now thought to number around 190,000, the Peshmerga have their roots in groups of loosely organised tribal border guards in the late 1800s, but were formally organised as the national fighting force of the Kurdish people after the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the wake of World War One (bbc.com, n.d.). The force have lost 1,200 men and women, and over 5,900 have been injured defending their lines from repeated ISIS attacks (Stephens, 2015:233). Turkey, Iraq and Syria cheered when 150 Peshmerga, with Turkey’s permission, crossed into Kobani to help defend the town from ISIS (Stephens, 2015:233).
The escalation of the so called Islamic State, or ISIS, has gave birth international interest and scrutiny into Kurdish political issues from international diplomats, security bodies, international eyewitnesses, researchers, and specialists. For the Kurdistans, the occurrence of ISIS denotes positive and negative sides of an event; a serious threat and a new doorway to greater opportunities. From one perspective, Kurdish requests for independency in Iraq, liberation in Syria, and political settlement in Turkey is about to fade off which is in consequence to the ISIS violence in both Iraq and Syria (Dalay, 2016:3). Truth be told, the political settlement process in Turkey has lost its realization and the circumstance negatively affected both the repute of the Peshmerga, (who at first withdrew from their posts against advancing ISIS forces) and brought down the public confidence bestowed on them by the Kurdish political class and the self-confidence of the Kurdish people (Dalay, 2016:4).
Also, the threat displayed by ISIS gave an impulse to the development of a typical Kurdish public circle and governmental issues, and upgraded global reputation for Kurdish polity. Specifically, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) (helped straightforwardly and by implication by U.S. military support) have turned out to be a competent fighting force that can bear up the ISIS activities. Additionally, the risk postured by ISIS set off a procedure of greatly required security division reformation in Iraqi Kurdistan. In this way, while the Kurds in Syria and Iraq incurred substantial humanitarian casualties alongside economic, political, and security costs, they likewise made remarkable gains as an aftereffect of the fight against ISIS (Dalay, 2016:4). This particularly has been the situation as the Iraqi Kurds who, after overpowering beginning stuns and mishaps, turned out to be a competent fighting force (Dalay, 2016:4).
ISIS's publicity material is as a rule innovative, contains issues of reality, and critically is spread utilizing cutting edge strategies. They accordingly structure their publicity to have a wide coverage. ISIS embraces numerous techniques to ensure that the media utilize their own material and truths revealed by them, in this manner, giving them access to a large number of homes, which may be difficult to achieve. One method the ISIS use is restricting journalists from having access to the areas they are in control of and they have always made sure that they take advantage of anyone found exploring their zone by either beheading them or demanding for ransoms to release them. Beheading them is one popular way for them to send message to the world that they are brutal and determined to get their goals achieved. This in consequence makes the group in exclusive control of information making the journalists to really on them for news. ISIS have a number of different departments that handles different issues ranging from visual material that portrays the military strength of the sect to ceremonial and religious materials. The group’s publication known as Dabiq is their most popular publication which is in different languages and professionally crafted with pictures and well-structured language that is attractive to the public. Dabiq contains reports of everyday life in ISIS areas; it portrays a romanticised image of their caliphate as a restoration of an Islamic golden age; it reports on their military victories and successes and presents an idealised picture of life in ISIS controlled areas and it offers religious teachings as well as news about various social activities (Ali, n.d.:11). Their videos are a strong medium to message the world about their brutality with the name of God and Quran verses attached to the acts which is a tactic to send fear and terror out to their adversaries.
On the other hand, the Kurdish region has seen media as a friend to associate with in fighting terrorism. This friendship has allowed influences and controls on information being broadcast. Techniques for having control and influence on a media people involves giving the top personnel express access to a specific zone, or dialogue with a desired subject. In return, they anticipate that the writer will compose a decent piece on them while using a chance to control information for their own particular advantage in a news.
1.1 Assumptions
1. Words spoken by figures who are political and religious will make terrorism in Kurdistan region
to continue;
2. Actions of ISIS are a product languages of the past leaders;
3. Politicians manipulate information from the media houses;
4. Peshmerga is winning the war on ISIS through media;
5. ISIS is using the media to spread fear and terror.
1.2 Objective of study
Power, Politics and media have been employed in approach to fight ISIS. This study will help to understand the connection between actions and language of Politicians in Kurdish region and the ISIS. More so, it will explain how effective has Peshmerga been in the fight against ISIS in relation to media. Additionally, who is winning the war will be included.
1.3 Research Questions
1. How is the western media portraying the ISIS;
2. How effective is the fight of Premerger against ISIS;
3. How are languages of the Media manipulated by the politicians?
This study will employ the use of qualitative method which has to do with the use of secondary information from articles, textbooks and YouTube videos.
1.5 Theoretical Framework
One of the approaches this study applies to terrorism has to do with a discursive dimension with a systematic view which is constructive and alongside are assumptions, cultural unfairness and moral concerns (Jackson, 2007). For this study, critical discourse analysis (CDA) is an applicable framework to analyze terrorism discursive dimension via the provision issues and understanding of the relationship between language and the factors subset to social life (Fairclough, 2003). In clear terms, CDA identifies discourse, both written and spoken, as a form of social practice (Barker, 2001:64). So many things have changing in forms into terror and it is important to say that interpretation are open, dynamic and subject to change (Barker, 2001:64). This approach of discursive construction is applicable to some context that are demographic, social and political which mask the violent attitudes and verbal deeds of political office holders, researchers in the academia, advocates of masses and activists that turn into terrorism. This study delves into the debates, interview, media programmes and operations in Kurdistan region’ terrorism issues.
1.6 Structure of Chapters
This study will be divided into five chapters. Chapter one will be mainly for the introduction to this study. It will provide information about the background of the study. The purpose of the study and significance of the study are listed out while the importance of the study will be included. Additionally, the research question is being laid out and the theoretical framework is being introduced. The literature sources to this study are made known also.
Chapter two would be mainly focused on Kurdish region and its Military forces known as Peshmerga coupled with the political issues in the region and its media sector.
In the chapter three, a number of literature useful to the definition of terrorism, media and political powers will be discussed. Subsequently, concepts of terrorist groups to media and attitudes of counterterrorism agents to media would be discussed.
Chapter four will give me details to the theoretical framework to be used to approach this study.
The last chapter which is the concluding chapter. It will be dedicated to summary, findings and conclusion.
1.7 Theoretical Framework
One of the approaches this study applies to terrorism has to do with a discursive dimension with a systematic view which is constructive and alongside are assumptions, cultural unfairness and moral concerns (Jackson, 2007). For this study, critical discourse analysis (CDA) is an applicable framework to analyze terrorism discursive dimension via the provision issues and understanding of the relationship between language and the factors subset to social life (Fairclough, 2003). In clear terms, CDA identifies discourse, both written and spoken, as a form of social practice (Barker, 2001:64). So many things have changing in forms into terror and it is important to say that interpretation are open, dynamic and subject to change (Barker, 2001:64). This approach of discursive construction is applicable to some context that are demographic, social and political which mask the violent attitudes and verbal deeds of political office holders, researchers in the academia, advocates of masses and activists that turn into terrorism. This study delves into the debates, interview, media programmes and operations in Kurdistan region’ terrorism issues.