Uluslararası Hakemli Ekonomi Yönetimi Araştırmaları Dergisi, sa.13, ss.111-127, 2017 (Hakemli Dergi)
There is a conflict today between Russia and Ukraine which have started long before but peaked in 2014 with the Maidan events and for now can be named as a hybrid war. Purpose: Analyzing the essential parameters that cause crisis between Russia and Ukraine, how the war is carried out through the media and what can be done to prevent the oncoming threats form the purpose of this essay. Content: In the article, the kind of war Russia carried out in Ukraine and how it is predicted in Ukraine will be described. Moreover, defence mechanisms that the Russian media formed to “justify” its armed aggression in Ukraine, which turned out to be myths without sense is going to be examined. Throughout this research the importance of Ukrainian National Identity is also tried to be emphasized. The scope of the research deals with the strategy applied in Ukraine via hybrid war method and the policy applied from 2014, when Russia occupied and annexed Crimea, to nowadays in Vladimir Putin’s era. Method: The research is concluded with qualitative evaluation in terms of literature. Data especially derived from the Russian and Ukrainian media sources are analyzed. With the gathered documents in this way the multidirectional conflict between Russia and Ukraine is evaluated. Results and Conclusion: Myths created with the help of media Russia tried to justify its agression against Ukraine. As a result of the ongoing hybrid war Ukraine is under threat of losing its sovereignty, territo-rial integrity and national identity. In order to prevent these ongoing processes structural reforms must be carried out.
Key Words: Media, Myth, Identity, Russia, Ukraine, Hybrid War