Propaganda of Terror: Konstantiniyye Magazine and The Discourse of DAESH

Terrorist groups target people on different levels by using not only their actions, but also their discourse. Terrorist organization DAESH attracts a great deal of attention with its actions and media campaigns. The organization, which, having emerged in Iraq and improved its position in Syria continues to govern vast amount of territory in both countries, uses propaganda tools along with its armed attacks in order to maintain its control.

The social services DAESH provides, military operations it conducts, fatwas it publishes about contemporary developments and the commentaries it releases about the “foreign policy” of the so-called Islamic State are published in its Turkish-language magazine Konstantiniyye. DAESH claims that the goal behind publishing the magazine is to inform people about its activities and to clarify misunderstanding about the organization. When we consider informative activities as propaganda and efforts to avoid misunderstanding as perception management, it is clear that DAESH pursues a multi-dimensional communication strategy. Thus, analyzing the discourse and content of the Konstantiniyye magazine is quite important.

Moreover, in order to limit DAESH’s both physical and online recruitment capacity, it would be helpful to carry out thorough analyses of the magazines published by the organization which is an important leg of its communication activities. This study, prepared by Sertaç Canalp Korkmaz, ORSAM Research Assistant, focuses on the Konstantiniyye magazine published specifically for the terror group’s target audience in Turkey. I personally believe that this research would significantly contribute to the literature and hope that it will prove very informative for the readers.