Minority-Language Broadcasting, Kin-state Media and Transnational Polarization: Turks in North Macedonia between Skopje and Ankara

This chapter examines the interplay between public service broadcasting, kin-state influence and minority rights in North Macedonia, focusing on Turkish community, the third-largest ethnic community in the country. Turkey under President Erdoğan, one of the leading external actors in the Balkans, uses its media apparatus to shape narratives, especially within kin-minority communities in its near abroad, contributing to transnational polarization. The chapter aims to analyse the impact of the Macedonian public broadcaster MRT’s nearly 80-year-old Turkish service and Turkey-based Turkish broadcasting on the public sphere of the Turkish community of North Macedonia and highlights the role of the minority language in shaping social and political discourse. It also examines the latest media reforms in North Macedonia on ethnic community languages and evaluates public perception of Turkish community in the country. Moreover, it explores the nuanced dimensions of decolonization of kin-minorities within the context of media policies, underlining the intersectionality of identity, politics, and media in the Balkans.