“In our opinion it is in your interest to maintain a principle which is for the good of all—that anyone in danger should have just and equitable treatment and any advantage, even if not strictly his due, which he can secure by persuasion. This is your interest as much as ours, for your fall would involve you in a crushing punishment that would be a lesson to the world” (Thucydides, 8). During the siege of Melos in 416 in the Peloponnesian War, the Melians’ response to the Athenians’ conception of justice remains relevant and timeless. Despite the shift in actors within international relations, such as the Athenians, Spartans, and Melians, being replaced by contemporary nation-states, the players persist in employing a realist understanding of international relations. Prof. Dr. S. Özçelik, one of the columnists of the Crimea News Agency, conducted a critical assessment of the realist school by analysing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and theorising on potential figures who could serve as Putin’s propagandist, akin to Goebbels. Excerpts.
ÖZELGÜN: While I follow the Ukraine-Russia war, Athenian historian Thucydides’ Melian Dialogue comes to my mind. Could Putin also think that Russia was justified in invading Ukraine because it was powerful, just like the Athenians in the Melian Dialogue?
ÖZÇELİK: Thucydides served as a general in the Peloponnesian War. But because he was defeated and sidelined by the Athenians, he decided to write about it. We can draw similarities with the Melian dialogue in the context of the Ukraine-Russia war. Like in the war between Russia and Ukraine, there were two sides. The Melians looked like the Ukrainians, and the Athenians resembled the Russians. Nonetheless there is also Spartans in the text. In the current war, Sparta is the West. The text explained the whole thing about the war and other concepts in international relations. The Melian Dialogue is the embodiment of Realism. There is a famous saying in the text: “the right, as the world goes, is only in question between equal power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must”. In other words, “might makes it right”. Nevertheless, Realism is subject to criticism. Therefore, I will explain the war from a constructivist perspective. It stresses the importance of identities. Putin considers Russia to be the Roman Empire’s successor, the Third Rome, and aspired to establish it. Putin’s chosen personal trauma is also crucial to comprehending the present war. When the Soviet Union collapsed, Putin was a Committee for State Security (KGB) agent in Dresden in the German Democratic Republic (DDR) and the demise created a big trauma for Putin because he was one of the most powerful people in the DDR. Putin characterized the demise of the Soviet Union as “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe” of the 20th century. He tried to recreate the Soviet Union, and the first step was to invade Crimea and Ukraine.
ÖZELGÜN: The role of Sparta in the Melian Dialogue…
ÖZÇELİK: In the text, the Athenians articulated to the Melians that you should either surrender or suffer the consequences. Finally, they were defeated, and all the Melians, children and women, became slaves, and the old men were killed by the Athenians. But fortunately, this is not the case for the Ukrainians. In the text, although the Melians thought that the Spartans would come to their help, they did not. However, in this case, at least the West, especially the United States and many European countries, came to help the Ukrainians. So the latter changed everything. Therefore, Ukrainians did not yet experience what Melians had experienced.
ÖZELGÜN: According to BBC Turkish, in the occupied regions of Russia and Ukraine, the Putin administration finances pro-war theatrical productions and encourages scriptwriters to exalt the Russian army and justify the occupation of Ukraine. What role does literature play in Putin’s propaganda and manipulation techniques?
ÖZÇELİK: All over the world, people say “Putler”, combining the names of Hitler and Putin. Putin’s propaganda and manipulation techniques are the copycats of Nazi Propaganda Minister J. Goebells. I always want to know who is Putin’s Goebells. One person can be Kremlin Spokesman D. Peskov. He knows Turkish very well; he came to Turkey and learned Turkish. He even came to my university, Ankara University, once to lecture about Turkey-Russia relations in Turkish. The other one can be M. Simonyan, who is the head of Russian state-controlled broadcaster RT News. Putin’s propaganda and manipulation techniques play very well right now in Russia. There are certain Russian propaganda films that promote the war. For example, in 2023, there was a state-funded propaganda movie called “the Witness”. It is the same as in Hitler movies. In the movie, Ukrainians were portrayed as Nazis. In 2017, they also filmed a propaganda movie called “Crimea”. The movies tried to justify the invasion of Ukraine in the eyes of the Russian public. But if you look at the polls, 40% of Russians don’t want to hear about the war. Only 30% are following the war closely. They try to make the Russian public focus on the propaganda movies. But most Russians last year went to the Barbie movie because they wanted to escape Putin propaganda and live a normal life. We should also emphasize that there are some Russian artists and filmmakers who do not want to be part of this propaganda and have opted for self-exile.
ÖZELGÜN: According to BBC, “The Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU)… has also changed its Christmas date to 25 December”. How should we interpret the decision of it?
ÖZÇELİK: This war not only destroyed Ukrainian houses, schools, and hospitals but also the Ukrainian mentality and psyche about their identity. It created a paradigm shift because, in 2014, when Russia invaded Crimea, the separation began. The reason is very simple. Ukrainian society is doing this because Russia is bombing you. Ukrainians don’t want to be associated with Russians. Ukrainians also say that since the Russian Tsardom, they have been forced to forget their identity. The Ukrainian society wants to recreate its identity, reborn from its ashes like a phoenix. Moreover, this is not the only decision. In the Ukrainian cities, for example, if there is a V. Lenin or A. Pushkin statue, they want to take it off. There was a Lenin Street, and they changed its name.
References
https://www.bbc.com/turkce/articles/cgl6yyjg057o
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67816987
Weltschau 
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