Too close and too far

War news and the localization of foreign news

Both local and foreign news stories are created through the intertwining of many mechanisms such as national and international power relations and the ideological framework of the news media with regard to the selection, production and the presentation of certain events. For this reason, foreign news or war news as a text can only be properly analysed by considering its relation with other texts.

The foreign news is structured in the frames of discourse and language produced by the dominant ideology and influenced by the social, economic, political, cultural and historical backgrounds. Due to the reason that foreign news usually focuses on the struggles, crises and conflicts between two or more groups, the effort of the parties to influence the news would reflect also their perception of legitimacy. The mainstream media institutions especially have a tendency to place themselves on the same line as the official authorities. They ally themselves with the ‘motherland’ position, as Hallin (1994) calls it, which they defend and struggle for, against other countries. Many studies carried out on foreign news since the 1960s have shown that the major mainstream media institutions in the US have rendered great support for American foreign policy decisions (Hallin, 1994). This holds true for the Turkish media, as well. During the periods of either crisis or peace between Turkey and Greece, the discourses of ‘friend’ and ‘enemy’ are reproduced and the media follow an attitude in support of their own state policies (Akça, 2007).

The academic research studies carried out since the 1970s have underlined the fact that the international news flow has been under the control of a handful of western news agencies and global news channels which causes a one-sided and imbalanced news flow from the northern developed countries to the southern less developed countries. ¹ Despite the efforts of UNESCO for a balanced news flow around the world, there have been no real developments that address the imbalance of international news flow. On the contrary, the media performance appears to have continued to act in favour of the few western news agencies. Furthermore, with the emergence of international television channels, this imbalance has reached a stage where it appears unstoppable.

Gans (1979: 31) identified two reasons why foreign news has connections with local/national events, arguing that, first, just like local/national news, the foreign news has concerns around similar people and events and journalists present foreign news by putting the priorities of national news at the forefront. Second, foreign news usually represents and reflects the same values that are in the national news, and these similarities become more pronounced especially if there is a clear enemy or threat against a nation. If international events are presented differently in different geographical regions, this would mean that people in different regions experience the same events differently (Bennett et al., 1994). This phenomenon could also be examined using the concept of domestication of news, which highlights an oppositional stance against globalization. Furthermore Gurevitch et al. (1993) explain how news texts which contain both global and local aspects can be easily understood by local readers and attract their interest.

Dardis (2006) examined the news reporting on the Iraq War protests in different countries. He compared the press of the USA and that of the United Kingdom. He pointed to the effect of local sociopolitical frames of different countries on national news media. De Vreese et al. (2001) also draw attention to the use of various frames by different countries on the same international events. The above shows that the use of local factors in the foreign news is conditioned by each country’s own geographical, sociopolitical and economic interests and is not specific to particular countries (for studies on the Turkish media see Çatalbaş, 2003; Kılıç, 2008)

Cyprus: ‘The island of conflict’

Although Cyprus is a small island, it has been the subject of theories of hegemonic international politics due to its strategic location. With this in mind, it is not surprising to see that the Cyprus problem, which originates in the struggles and conflicts for control of the island, and which citizens will populate the island, remains one of the core issues, for more than four decades, on the world’s stage. Cypriots, under these circumstances, are so concerned with their own problem that it has created a kind of malady in their social psyche. Pembe Behçetoğulları (2006) argues that in any society a continuous discourse on ‘injustice’ creates a childish rigour and ‘apathy’ to the conditions, towards the losses and the sorrows of the other side.

Cyprus’s relations with the outside world have been profoundly shaped by the chronic dilemma of the island’s political identity. Today, there exist two de facto mini states in Cyprus. One – the Republic of Cyprus (with a Greek population) – is recognized internationally and recently became a full member of the EU. The other – the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) – has all the characteristics of a small nation-state but is not recognized by any state other than Turkey. The two communities have conducted narrow foreign policies focused on the island’s political identity. Both communities are very much politicized by, and immersed in their own conflict. The Cypriot people’s preoccupation with the problem can be explained mainly by the unresolved and complex nature of the problem, and partly by the provincial character of the island. On the other hand, there appears to be little public debate, if any, in either community on the way in which the problems of Cyprus are related to international power relations, and to other international matters.

Martin Shaw (1996: 4) specifies two criteria for a conflict to be defined as a global political crisis: the first is where, as was the case in the Gulf, interests directly or indirectly involve the major powers and areas of the international system. The second criterion is where there exists significant pressure for legitimate international intervention to resolve the crisis. The island of Cyprus fits both these criteria, at times having experienced a number of military, political and diplomatic interventions. The Cyprus problem has remained unresolved for half a century. There is now a de facto situation on the island: the Republic of Cyprus, on one side, and TRNC as a ‘state in waiting’ for recognition, on the other.

Foreign news in the North Cyprus media

In North Cyprus, there are 13 daily and four weekly newspapers in Turkish, one in three languages (Turkish, Greek and English) and two daily and one weekly newspapers in English aimed mainly at expatriates. ² Almost all foreign news in the North Cyprus media is received from the Turkish Cypriot news agency TAK, which receives international news items from the Anatolian Agency (AA) in Turkey. As described by Irvan (2006: 60), the difference between the newspapers is not based on their news but on their front page comments and on their editorials.

Kıbrıs with a daily circulation of 12,500 and Afrika with a daily circulation of 2500 were chosen for the analysis because they are the two most widely circulated, influential, elite newspapers in the region and are agenda-setters for important debates in the North Cyprus public sphere. However, the ownership and the ideological stance of these newspapers are different. Kıbrıs belongs to the Kıbrıs Media Group, which is owned by Turkish Cypriot businessman Asil Nadir. The newspaper has a centre-right political perspective, supporting the present government’s policies on the Cyprus issue. The owner of Afrika is its leading journalist-writer Şener Levent. ³ It has an alternative, radical and left-wing stance. In terms of revenue, being part of the most profitable media company in North Cyprus, the main financial resources for Kıbrıs come from this group and from advertising income. Afrika, on the other hand, depends mostly on the revenue it gets from its sales and receives very little advertising. Afrika has a small team of journalists, composed of just five, compared to that of Kıbrıs, which has 26. The differences between the two newspapers in the nature of their ownership and in their revenue and human resources influence the selection and the presentation of the news (Hançer, 2006).

The study and research questions

This study focuses on the argument that although much of the foreign news coverage depends heavily on news agencies for copy, the newspapers connect their readers to these events by inserting local perspectives and angles. The research questions of the study are as follows. First, how do Turkish Cypriot media, located in one of the main international crises areas, see and represent other crises? Second, how are major global crises made ‘meaningful’ and ‘relevant’ to the local reader? Third, to what extent does the foreign reporting in the North Cyprus news media generate information about the world that would enable the North Cypriot community to operate in the newly defined world of increasing political and economic globalization and to make sense of their own problem within the context of international developments?

The study focuses on, first, the initial, official period of the Iraq War: 20 March 2003–1 May 2003, and the initial period of the Lebanon War: 14 July 2006– 18 August 2006. The main concern of the analysis is individual news articles; additionally editorials related to the war were also evaluated to get a deeper insight into the coverage of the events. Out of a total of 268 news articles published on the Iraq War during the research period, 153 news articles were in Kıbrıs and 115 news articles were in Afrika, together with 18 editorials in Kıbrıs and 68 editorials in Afrika. There were 485 news articles in total about the Lebanon War, of which 178 news articles were in Kıbrıs and 307 news articles were in Afrika.

The main frames which emerged during the analysis were: ⁴

Military conflict (troops, equipment, combats, manoeuvres, security).

After quantifying these frames we carried out a detailed analysis, mainly focusing on the headlines and the subheadings of the news articles. Despite the fact that all Turkish Cypriot newspapers use the same news, which is received from TAK news agency, the headlines reflect a different presentation and discourse. We also looked at the newspapers’ opinion columns on the war. These enabled us to see the views and opinions about the relationship between the wars and Cyprus, which one cannot find openly in the news articles. The opinion pieces play a role in ‘the formation and change of public opinion, in setting the political agenda, and in influencing social debate, decision making and other forms of social and political action’ as described by Van Dijk (1996). The analysis of the news coverage of the Iraq and Lebanon wars found a number of persistent frames and themes in both newspapers, though with varying style, importance and emphasis.

The recurrent themes during the Iraq and Lebanon wars, which will be mentioned in detail in the analysis section, were as follows:

The initial shock of the wars: the bombings as well as concerns about the future outcomes of the wars on Cyprus’s economy and politics.

Victims of the wars: Iraq, Lebanon and ‘us’

The 2003 Iraq War, termed ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom’ by the US administration, began on 20 March. Although the pre-war news is beyond the scope of the present analysis, we have considered also the news a few days before the first day of the war. Kıbrıs and Afrika put emphasis on the possible consequences of the war for North Cyprus. A headline in Kıbrıs reads ‘The knock of the war on tourism’ (Kıbrıs, 20 March 2003) while Afrika says ‘Cyprus is tied to Iraq’ (Afrika, 18 March 2003). This news reflected the worries about the future of the North Cypriot economy and about the Cyprus problem that were emerging in this new era.

Both newspapers covered similar news stories on the war but their editorial preferences for front page news stories differed in terms of the global and local news angle on the war. As far as the front pages of the two newspapers are concerned, Kıbrıs covers the war from a more global angle than does Afrika. The news of the first few days of the war appeared on the front pages of Kıbrıs with a focus on the bombings, combat and the violence of the war. On the 21 March 2003 the headline on the front page of Kıbrıs reads ‘Iraq under intensive fire’ and is followed inside by news on the security measures and how the economy would be influenced by the war. On the other hand, Afrika put more emphasis on the Iraq War with regard to its outcomes for North Cyprus on such issues as the unification, the Annan Plan, the referendum, Turkey and the USA, the EU, etc. Kıbrıs gave more prominence to the war per se, while Afrika connected the war to the Cyprus problem, especially in its front page news: ‘Alarm also in Cyprus: The Iraq War dropped Cyprus from the top ranks of the world agenda’ (Afrika, 21 March 2003).

Afrika differs from Kıbrıs also in the way it links the war to the Cyprus problem by cynical and humorous comments put above and below the fold, such as: ‘The Yankee is coming to us too: Our airfield, airports and ports will be opened to the USA and Britain.’ On the same page, Afrika makes an interesting analogy between Cyprus and Iraq and between Saddam and the then North Cyprus leader Denktaş. ‘North Cyprus opened everything to the American and the English. Are those, who are going to save Iraq from Saddam coming also here to save us from Denktaş?’ (Afrika, 21 March 2003).

When covering the wars both newspapers adopted a conflict/war news framework. The war news/journalism focuses on the conflict, the visible effects of war (casualties, dead and wounded, damage to property), and on what the elites say about the war. Both newspapers dedicated extensive coverage to the military operations and the destruction caused by the war. Out of 110 news stories on Iraq war, there were 15 news items in Kıbrıs and 18 in Afrika that focused on the violence of the war, which included news on the bombings, the losses, the death toll and the destruction of the war. The tone of this type of news appears to defend the side of the Iraqi civilians. Kıbrıs covered these stories with more verbal and visual space than Afrika did.

There were 20 news items in Kıbrıs and 57 in Afrika on the violence of the Lebanon War, which again included news on the bombings, the losses, the death toll and the destruction. On the 30 July the Israeli army bombed Kana, a town in south Lebanon, killing 57 civilians including 37 children. Kıbrıs printed this news on a black page with three colour photographs which showed the dead body of a child in the arms of a member of a rescue team, the crying face of another child and the coffins of the victims. The headline reads ‘The bloodiest attack’ and the subheading tells us that ‘Israel carried out the most horrific attack in the operation by hitting the houses in which mostly the children and elderly were sheltering’ (Kıbrıs, 31 July 2006).

The same event was covered in Afrika with a more emotional tone and connecting it to the Cyprus problem. Afrika gave a full page to the attack with photographs of the dead bodies of children and a headline that read ‘The Israeli violence in Lebanon: The murderers of children’ (Afrika, 31 July 2006). However, the report also included pictures of George Bush, Tony Blair, Kofi Annan, Jose Manuel Barosso and Ehud Olmert next to each other with a caption which read ‘Here are the real architects of the Children’s Massacre in Kana! You human beings! Look at them! Know them and make a stand! ... These are the doings of the architects of our Peace Plans!’ (Afrika, 31 July 2006). In both newspapers the front page news stories focused on the violence and suffering of the war. Both newspapers used the word ‘hell’ and ‘ruin’ in which ‘hundreds of innocent children, women and elderly die’ to describe the war (Kıbrıs, 27 July 2006; Afrika, 6 August 2006). Other recurring words were ‘invasion’, ‘violence’, ‘child murderers’ and ‘massacre’ when framing the acts of Israel.

The wars: Terror of the imperialist powers

Both newspapers expressed the view that the war in Iraq would have dire consequences for Cyprus and for the Middle East. Accounts and commentaries dealt with the short- and long-term impacts of the war. The anti-war stance and criticism towards the USA and Britain were more visible in the opinion columns. The opinion columns in Afrika (68 items) and Kıbrıs (18 items) expressed their reactions and feelings about the war in a highly critical manner.

One comment which came forward repeatedly in almost all the articles of both papers is that the Iraq War was part of an imperialist game and of power tricks in the Middle East devised mainly by the USA and Britain. It was argued that the attack would enable Anglo-American influence over the Middle East and in the region and subjugate the area by controlling its natural resources, thereby imposing political and economic reality. Another underlying point in the opinion columns was that war cannot be the means of peace and that the USA cannot establish peace. Some columnists also argued that the Cypriot people should not be deceived by these tricks or have hope in the imperialist powers bringing any kind of a solution to Cyprus since it was these very same countries which were paving the way towards the tragedies of the Iraqi people. It was argued that the powerful ‘protectors’ cannot protect ‘Cyprus’, considering what was happening in Iraq.

The invasion of Iraq was also reported through official statements on the relationships between Turkey and the USA, Turkey’s possible involvement in the war and the political and economic outcomes of the war for different ethnic and religious groups. On 12 April 2003, Kıbrıs mentioned the vote in the Turkish parliament on the memorandum for Turkish soldiers to enter Iraq and the consequences of the rejection of this request on Turkey. On the other hand, Afrika was less distant or neutral about the relationship between Turkey and the war, in a highly critical way. On 22 March 2003 the headline of Afrika declares ‘Fiasco in Cyprus, shock in Iraq’. On 24 March 2003, the headline on the front page reads ‘The threat by the EU’. Both newspapers paid attention to the relationship between the USA and Turkey with regard to the Iraq War. The issue of the request for Turkish troops to enter Iraq and the consequences for Turkey of not complying appears more intensively in the opinion columns, which refer to the weakness of Turkey in the face of American insistence.

As far as the news on the Lebanon War is concerned we see a similar anti-war tone in the newspapers. In Kıbrıs some editorials (Hasan Hastürer, Kıbrıs, 19–20 July 2006) try to motivate the people, NGOs and political institutions to take action against the ‘massacre and invasion by Israel’ in Gaza and Lebanon. Others criticize the ignorance of many people around the world about the war, as if it were happening in another world (Aysu Basri Akter, Kıbrıs, 25 July 2006).

The Kana incident, especially, led to quite a few emotional articles, expressing mixed feelings of sadness, anger and self-criticism. Mehmet Levent, in his editorial titled ‘The Middle East is crying blood’, blames the USA and the UN for the war (Afrika, 18 July 2006). His editorials titled ‘I just want to cry’ (1 August 2006) and ‘The last phase of losing one’s humanity’ are highly critical of the USA (Afrika, 2 August 2006). Ali Osman’s article ‘America is terrorist’ depicts the USA and Britain as the number one terrorists of the world (Afrika, 3 August 2006). An editorial by the leading writer of Afrika, Şener Levent, deals with this aspect in forceful terms. Some parts of this editorial, titled ‘Carrot and stick’, were brought to the front page of that day as a part of the news. On the front page the article reads ‘The saga of the EU has collapsed in the Island’ and continues with these lines, ‘The EU that was thought of as civilized has shown a barbaric side’. He goes on, ‘This war should be a lesson to everyone, to the Greeks and to the Turks. We will either reach an agreement between each other or die at the hands of these monsters. You thought you were being offered a carrot, didn’t you? Now do you understand that it was actually a stick?’

‘Cypriotizing’ the wars

As in the case of the news on the Iraq War, the Lebanon War was also covered through similar local frames. The aspects of the Lebanon War which were directly related to Cyprus included the following themes: the humanitarian aid by North Cyprus authorities and other organizations; transportation of the people escaping from the war; the involvement of South Cyprus in the war; and the environmental effects of the war on the island. However, these themes were dealt with through different priorities and angles in Kıbrıs and Afrika. Both newspapers gave equal importance to the humanitarian aid by the government of Northern Cyprus and various local organizations and groups. However, Kıbrıs emphasized the help from the government, the political parties and the NGOs in Northern Cyprus. For example, one headline reads ‘Help from TRNC to the Lebanese people’ and mentions the arrival of the first team, comprising a doctor and a translator, sent by the government as a way of showing the ‘solidarity’ between the two countries (Kıbrıs, 4 August 2006). Afrika, on the other hand, mentions the ‘TRNC’ in just one news story: ‘Health support from TRNC to the refugees fleeing Beirut’ (Afrika, 23 July 2006) and covered the aid given by some NGOs and charities in North Cyprus, like the Red Crescent.

The most important theme of the war in relation to Cyprus was on the transfer and transport of EU and Lebanese citizens through Famagusta port, the nearest safe point to Lebanon and Syria. Particularly, Kıbrıs appeared to be proud of the fact that the TRNC was able to help these people and treated this as an opportunity at their doorstep to be recognized by the international community. Kıbrıs also points out that there are obstacles which are stopping the port from being fully utilized. For example, the news story reported under the headline ‘Our helping hands reached 445 EU citizens’ names this obstacle in the following lines. It says that ‘despite all the obstructions of Papadopulos, TRNC authorities in coordination with Swiss authorities transported 445 EU citizens from Beirut to Mersin’ (Kıbrıs, 19 July 2006). In similar stories, the emphasis is again on the agreements to coordinate and cooperate with Canada, the USA and Sweden, and also the capability of ‘our’ ships to carry as many as ‘13 thousand Canadians’ (Kıbrıs, 21 July 2006). On the other hand, Afrika’s approach to these events was relatively more distant by not framing them as an ‘opportunity’ or a ‘success’.

In Afrika, the Republic of Cyprus was also mentioned as being very active during the war in helping the western powers to send troops and military equipment to the war zone from their military bases on the island. The Turkish Cypriot press was critical of this involvement and presented this action as ‘opportunism’. There is a news story in Kıbrıs which illustrates this point: ‘The war became a source of profit for the Greek Cypriots and the Greeks’, says the headline (Kıbrıs, 4 August 2006). The news story emphasizes the profits gained by the Greek Cypriot and Greek private marine companies and ferries which carried the people fleeing from Lebanon. On the other hand, there was no clear reference either to the cost or to the ownership of the ships used to transfer these people from North Cyprus to Turkey.

Another concern about the acts of the South Cypriot authorities during the war came in regard to the military bases in the south of the island. The involvement of South Cyprus in the military matters was the subject of several news stories at that time, which focused on the deployment of soldiers from the USA, Britain and France and the UN Peace Forces. These stories were reported under the following headlines: ‘USA is sending troops to Cyprus: HIGH ALERT’ (Kıbrıs, 29 July 2006); ‘French commando forces are in South Cyprus’ (Kıbrıs, 14 July 2006); ‘South Cyprus wants to be the transit point for the transfers to Lebanon’ (Kıbrıs, 18 August 2006). These news items draw our attention to the willingness and eagerness of the Greek Cypriot government to collaborate with the western countries, particularly major European countries. The news story on 29 July in Kıbrıs, reporting on the deployment of US soldiers in the British bases in the south, reminds the reader of the fact that Agrotur is the biggest British base on foreign soil. In Kıbrıs, the discussions on the possibility of French bases in Cyprus were also interpreted as a threat and ‘a new challenge to Turkey’ (Kıbrıs, 18 August 2006).

Afrika was also critical of the possible location of French bases on the island but took a more critical tone and perspective. As opposed to Kıbrıs this was seen in Afrika as a threat not only to Northern Cyprus but to the whole island. Some news items which appeared on Afrika’s front pages on 6 and 7 August interpret the French bases on the island as a ‘cunning move of the big states to settle in Cyprus while the disagreement between both communities continues’. These items are again taken up from an editorial by Şener Levent titled ‘Johnny and Monsieur’, which is full of anger towards the superpowers who are trying to control the island and therefore the region by any means at their disposal. His anger was mixed with vulgarity and irony and goes to the extent of likening the island to the ‘whore and pimp of the Mediterranean who cannot be satisfied either with love or with money. … Let the French come to this brothel. The German. The Italian. And the Russian too.’

Unlike the news on the transfer of people escaping from the war or the involvement of South Cyprus in the war which worked on the ‘us’ and ‘them’, ‘North’ and ‘South’ dichotomy, these news stories adopted a united Cypriot identity in the face of the tragedies and atrocities of the war. This tone is epitomized by the headline which reads ‘Cypriots are in Beirut’ (Afrika, 19 August 2006). This news item refers to the anti-war coalition delegation in Cyprus which is composed of members of the New Cyprus Party in the North, and the Workers Democracy Movement and the Cyprus Green Party in the South. There were similar news items which reported the condemnation of the war shared by Greek and Turkish Cypriot writers and artists and the demonstrations organized by Greek and Turkish Cypriot political groups, trade unions and NGOs. Afrika gave particular importance to these activities. It carried 20 items on anti-war protests, most of these were positive in tone emphasizing themes such as anti-Americanism and anti-Israeli violence in Lebanon as well as a united Cyprus.

Losing our connection with a war nearby

The study has shown that local matters can even take prominence in the news related to these wars, which shook the world and changed the frame of international relations. The news stories and articles, in both of the newspapers, related to the Iraq War started to diminish, especially in the days following the fall of Baghdad (8–9 April 2003) even though the war and the military operations were continuing with full force. The occurrence of important developments in Cyprus pertaining to its internal affairs such as the discussions on the unification of the island, the referendum for the Annan Plan and the opening of the borders between South and North Cyprus almost wiped the news of the Iraq War from the pages of the newspapers after 15 April 2003. Even the news regarding the announcement of the ceasefire in Iraq, on 2 May 2003, did not appear in the newspapers. The sensation and the drama of Iraq were replaced by the excitement over the opening of the borders, and the talks over the referendum for unification. The only time the name of Iraq was mentioned again was on 30 April 2003, the day after the borders opened: ‘Not Iraq, Cyprus: ‘Is s/he a captive? Is s/he a tourist? Is s/he a citizen?’ (Afrika, 30 April 2003). The headline of the story was constructed in an interrogative style, asking if the Cypriot people queuing at the border gates were hostages, tourists or citizens. This news story makes an analogy between the situation in Iraq and Cyprus though both cases have their unique characteristics. The reason behind using Iraq may be the psychology of victimizing oneself in a deadlock situation. Here Iraq is used only as a metaphor to expound on the suffering and misery of the Cypriots.

Conclusion

The starting point of this study was to see the way in which the North Cyprus press connected their readers to two global events – the wars in Iraq and Lebanon. Although almost all foreign news about the wars came from news agencies, journalists used local angles and concerns in framing the conflicts.

The local frames in the Iraq and Lebanon war news reporting reflected the historical, political, economic and cultural sensitivities of Cyprus, which has been a place of unresolved ‘crisis’ and ‘conflict’ in the world for several decades. Despite the differences in style, content and ideology, Kıbrıs and Afrika, the two newspapers under investigation, employed similar frames and words when referring to Israel, which was portrayed as ‘brutal’, ‘cruel’, ‘violent’ and ‘child murderers’ turning Lebanon into ‘hell’ and ‘ruin’.

This study is significant in terms of showing the viewpoints, the interpretations, the issues and the interests of different societies on the causes and outcomes of the wars. The catastrophe, the loss and the damage caused by the two wars and the probable impacts on the people living in Cyprus were reported extensively in Kıbrıs and Afrika. However, while Kıbrıs tended to give, directly, the war news without commenting on it, Afrika newspaper connected this news by inserting local concerns and viewpoints. It allocated relatively more space to the comments concerning the subject through its articles.

The differences between the two newspapers were marked by their different political ideologies, which became more visible in the news articles and editorials about the involvement of the island in the Lebanon War, and about the possible outcome of the war for North Cyprus in particular, and for all Cyprus and for the world in general. In line with the current government, Kıbrıs saw the war as an opportunity to promote the TRNC to the outside world. However, Afrika criticized the government for collaborating with the countries which caused the war in the first place.

Although the foreign news in the Turkish Cypriot press is received from foreign news agencies, both newspapers added their own perspectives influenced by their local and ideological concerns. The geography, content and frames used in the press of a particular community reflect the conditions of that community. Through using the cases of the Iraq and Lebanon wars, the Turkish Cypriot press expressed the rightfulness of the parties who were against the mediator role to be undertaken by the USA and the West to resolve the disputes and problems in Cyprus and the Middle East. The language used in the articles and news emphasized that those wars would eventually pave the way for the establishment of new colonies and sovereignties in the region, and in this sense, the newspapers tried to warn the Turkish Cypriot people, who, throughout their history, had been subjected to colonialism, imperialism, war and conflicts.

The newspapers allocated space to the tragedy of the Iraq and Lebanon wars to the extent that they were identified with the Cyprus problem. In other words, what was at the core of these stories was actually the so-called ‘unique’ case of the ‘Cyprus problem’ not the wars in Iraq or Lebanon. In a sense, the news stories on these wars were opportunities to describe the Cyprus problem, so they were used as supporting and background material. The North Cypriot press domesticated and localized the foreign news on these wars. When looked at from this angle, this is not something specific to the North Cypriot press. People show more interest in other people’s problems to the extent that those problems resemble their own, and the most striking examples can be observed, when an unusual event happens away from where they live, in the form of reaction they show to that event. In this sense, foreign news provides us with important information in understanding ourselves while we are trying to understand the others. Despite globalization, our planet is becoming a sort of a satellite, which is comprised of communities and individuals engaged with their own problems, who try to see the others from their enclosed shells. However, being faced with global warming and natural disasters, any event that happens in one part of the world may turn into a global chaos with the butterfly effect. It is inevitable that even the settled peace and stability within national boundaries that are considered the safest and securest parts in the world, one day can be shattered by environmental and war-related disasters.