THE IMAGE OF TURKEY IN THE ISLAMIC STATE’S PROPAGANDA MAGAZINES: A CONTENT ANALYSIS
THE IMAGE OF TURKEY IN THE ISLAMIC STATE’S PROPAGANDA MAGAZINES: A CONTENT ANALYSIS

Summary/Abstract: At the beginning of the 21st century, the establishment of the caliphate remained invariably the strategic goal of the global Salafi-jihadist movement. The Islamic State’s (IS; often referred to as ISIS – Islamic State of Iraq and ah-Sham; Dāʿish or Daesh) primary goal of establishing a caliphate has placed ‘apostate’ regimes rather than Western countries, as their primary enemies. Such country is Turkey, which IS describes as tağut. Indeed, the first issue of the Dabiq magazine targets Turkey as a hostile tyrannical country. This article examines the IS’s approach to Turkey, which, due to cultural differences, is located on the border of Western and Middle Eastern civilizations (this approach to Turkey’s role is supported by its membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization – NATO and negotiations of its accession to the European Union – EU). The author attempts to explore the main themes related to Turkey in IS’s English-language magazines Dabiq and Rumiyah, as well as the Turkish-language Konstantiniyye. The article aims to investigate whether Turkey is a main enemy and indirectly present whether its involvement in the fight against IS is/was linked to the increased terrorist threat in Turkey. The author hopes that this research will enrich the knowledge about jihadi propaganda and IS’s approach to close enemies (al-adou al-qareeb).

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