ISIS, Propaganda, and Islamophobia

The terrorist organization called IS (Islamic State), which emerged after the invasion of Iraq by the United States of America, has reached the center of attention by the size of the land it controlled in Syria and Iraq, as well as sensational terrorist attacks it performed in different places such the USA, Europe and Africa, but especially in the Middle-East. The organization is holding an extensive propaganda activity in order to realize its regional, global and ideological agenda, and with this purpose it effectively uses both traditional and new media tools. Propaganda is considered to be a field for “jihad” for IS, and the organization is carrying the war to this “front” with all of its resources. The propaganda activities most of which have violent content help the organization to constantly stay relevant. IS contributes to the Islamophobia that is rising in the West with the terrorist attacks it conducts and the propaganda that it shapes through these attacks. IS, which is a highly pragmatic structure in the strategic sense, uses the resulting Islamophobia for recruiting new members for the organization, especially from among Muslims living in Western countries. In this sense, there is a symbiotic relationship between IS and emerging far-right and Islamophobic movements