Analysis of Turkish Media in the Russia-Ukraine War

Abstract

In general, the influence of the media on the process of shaping the bilateral relations and public perception of the countries is undeniable, which was clearly demonstrated during the First World War. In addition to providing the public with content information such as defamation, propaganda, defamation, murder, fake news and enmity, the media also actively deals with topics such as impartiality, friendship, peace, conflict resolution and mediation, hence it can be said , that the media can create the language of political communication, give events direction and be a party or protect neutrality, a clear example of this is the Russia-Ukraine war that started in February 2022, in which the media is actively involved. It is the media that creates the information background and influences the agenda of the society, which directly or indirectly affects the relations between the countries. Perception and knowledge of events developed in the world is mainly carried out through mass media Media, as an important tool of political processes, becomes especially important when it merges with the political sphere.
If we look at history, we will see that there are periods of upswing and downswing in Russian-Turkish relations. As for Turkey's attitude towards Ukraine, with the declaration of Ukraine's independence in 1991, Turkey chose the path of good neighborly relations and cooperation with Ukraine. In general, Turkey tries to play the role of a mediator in ensuring peace in the region. Accordingly, Turkey, in the current Russia-Ukraine war, offers the parties the role of a mediator in the field of conflict resolution. It must be said that there is a difference of opinion regarding this war in the Turkish society, which is well reflected in the Turkish media. The media is a powerful mechanism for causing changes in the society, therefore this study aims to reveal the direction of the coverage of the Russian-Ukraine war in the Turkish media, especially in the social media, and how all this affects the relations between the interested countries. Within the scope of the research, the Twitter accounts of the 5 most read newspapers in Turkey were taken as basis. The last year's tweets of these Twitter accounts regarding the Ukraine-Russia War were analyzed. In the analysis, negative and positive attitudes about the war were measured. In the selection of newspapers, the distribution of right and left tendencies as well as the highest reading rate were taken into consideration.