RUSSIAN INFLUENCE STRATEGIES IN TURKISH MEDIA AND THE MEANS OF RESISTING THEM
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17721/1728-242X.2025.31.111-117Keywords:
media linguistics, corpus analysis, Turkish media, Russian propaganda, Russo-Ukrainian warAbstract
Background. Russia strives to creating a negative image of Ukraine within Turkiye using Turkish media sphere amidst the Russo-Ukrainian war. The Russian influence on the Turkish media sphere was researched by Gölcü, Nurlanova, Samet, Baykal and Durmuş. However, the narrow set of data was not sufficient to produce strategies to resist Russian propaganda about Ukraine in Turkiye.
Objectives. We aimed at identifying means of influence that Russian propaganda uses to persuade the Turkish population to percieve Ukraine negatively.
Methods. In this work, we use corpus, discourse and content analysis to establish both quantitative and qualitative understanding of the problem.
Results. We found that not only pro-Russian media outlets we studied (Sputnik, Aydınlık) were spreading Russian rhetoric, but also neutral websites (Sabah, CNNTürk) were creating a platform for messages which undermine trust in Ukraine and its government. Lexemes like «regime», «nazis» and «drug addicts», emotionally charged phrases and euphimisation apply suggestive influence to create a negative perception of Ukraine in consciousness of the population of Turkiye.
Conclusions. Based on the results, we suggest means of multitopical positive storytelling as the main strategy of resisting Russian propaganda in Turkiye for Ukraine.
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