Reflecting upon Ourselves through National Press Within the Framework of the visit of Pope Benedict XVI: Tolerant and Civilised Muslims, Admirable Turks *

This study focuses on the handling of the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Turkey in 2006 in the three best-selling newspapers of the period (Zaman, Hürriyet, Posta). Negative remarks of the Pope with regard to Islam and Turkey s membership to EU prior to his visit turned this visit into a struggle with a particular emphasis on the atrocity between us and them. Based upon the literature on the relationship between national press and nationalism, this study focuses on how the press constructs the image of us and them through certain discursive strategies. One of the findings of the study is that despite their different understandings with regard to publishing, the three newspapers handled Pope s visit as a tool of consolidation by reconstructing the "image of us" as Muslim Turks. The press emloyed the main strategies of denying one s own negative aspects and defamation of the other. For instance, the fact that Turkish politicians and bureaucrats addressed the Pope as "Mr. Pope" by ignoring his political and religious titles was regarded positively, whereas a particular emphasis was put on the "individuality" of the violence against religious minorities in Turkey stating that such acts were personal actions of the perpetrators. That Islam is a religion of "peace and reason" and that Muslims are tolerant people were frequently repeated in the news stories dealing with the visit, while Christianity was portrayed within the framework of the conflicts between Catholicism, Protestantism and Orthodoxy. In addition to that, an admirable and lovable image of Turks was constructed in the news stories through the "changing views" of the Pope. One of the striking findings of the study is the dramatic change in the language used in the news stories about the Pope. While the Pope was defamed in the news stories prior to his visit because of his negative remarks about Turkishness and Islam, he was portrayed moderately and positively due to his statements and behaviours praising the "image of us" during his visit.