Losing factor of the psychological war: Partisan media

We are talking about the psychological war between Turkey and Russia over Libya and Idlib. In this game, Russia is largely dominating. How?

The transfer of M-4 and M5-highways, which was under the control of jihadists, to the Russian-backed Syrian army has given Damascus and Moscow a great advantage in many ways. The road to Aleppo and the road to the port of Latakia of Russia in the Mediterranean were opened. Turkey wants to regain those positions. President Erdogan has granted a term of respite for the retreat of Damascus troops until the end of February, and the jihadist counter-attacks have been repelled thanks to the bombardment of the Russian Su-24 attack aircrafts. The Russian campaign machine naturally prefers to act coldly in this situation. While the Kremlin, the Duma, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were on the same wavelength, the embassy in Ankara was also included in circulation by reviving the methodology of Cold War era: A statement about the phone call between Erdoğan and Putin at 18:00 on February 21 came from the embassy, which was headed by Alexei Yerkhov, who has been extremely active in recent days, directly blaming Turkey. The main refrain of the choir led from the Kremlin is the words “Syria must have territorial integrity.” This is the basis of the statement of the embassy in Ankara:

- It was emphasized that the principles of an independent state and the territorial integrity of Syria should be unconditionally respected.

In other words, up to one month ago, one of the two countries, which seemed to be a very close ally in the Syrian issue, blamed the other for “invasion.” The issue that worries Ankara the most since the beginning of the case is immediately placed on the table.

Together with the same principle being put in the foreground in the psychological war over Duma, “Erdogan should put his emotions aside and speak in accordance with the rules of international law, Turkey and the Syrian armies must not face each other in a strict manner, etc.” – issues are also part of the diplomatic jargon used by Moscow. In this process, of course, the media, which is under the command of the deep state of Russia, is doing its job skillfully. For example, by presenting the statements made by Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar on CNN Turk channel on February 20 with 180-degree different heading, a though was created in readers that Ankara has accepted all the conditions dictated by Moscow and it is left to Hulusi Akar to explain them. Even when glancing at the issue, it can be seen that relatively independent media is kept away from this. Because when going through an extremely sensitive period, the Kremlin believes it is advisable to use the media it trusts until the end.

But what about Ankara? Although 95% of the media is controlled by the authorities, it is clear that processes are managed extremely poorly and ineffectively compared to Russia. Putting all of the occurring events aside and linking everything with the president’s “heroism, perseverance, prowess” not only bring something to Turkey but also leave Ankara even further behind in this psychological war. According to the changing conjuncture, not expressing a clear position every day is nothing but playing into Russia’s hands. Turkey needs to think about the reasons why it fell back in the psychological war before developing military counter-attack plans. Finding solace in a statement - “We are with our ally in NATO in the case of Idlib” - from the State Department will not even move Moscow’s hair.

About Libya, in the next article...