Various Standpoints in the Istanbul Convention Discussions, from Open Opposition to shifting the Ground: Cases of Sabah and Sözcü

This study examines the process of Turkey withdrawing from the Istanbul Convention with two media organizations with different ideologies. It has been considered that these two media organizations can make visible the two different subject positions (opposition and support) that emerge in society. The news related to the Istanbul Convention published on the websites of Sabah and Sözcü between March 20, 2021, and July 1, 2021, have been collected and the news gathered 41 news from Sözcü, 16 news from Sabah. The news was categorized based on their subjects into themes, and the news was evaluated within the framework of critical discourse analysis. As a result of the analysis, the narrative that the Istanbul Convention “harms Turkey” was prominently featured in almost all of Sabah’s news. Similarly, this narrative also emerged, albeit with different reasons in Sözcü. Furthermore, news in Sözcü included protest movements about withdrawing from the Istanbul Convention. However, the absence of even a single rights-based news piece concerning LGBTI+ individuals resulted in the invisibility of the LGBTI+ community. This absence is indicative of Sözcü aligning itself with the codes of the dominant gender regime, emphasizing its adherence to prevailing gender norms. These results essentially point to the implicit cooperation of both newspapers within the dominant gender regime.