History lessons: how Turkish propaganda turned the collapse of the Ottoman Empire as a victory

Novye Izvestia regularly addresses the topic of state propaganda in the Russian media and TV channels, telling in detail how it is actually done, what you should pay special attention to in order to understand what percentage of truth is actually contained in news reports and programs. It is no secret that this percentage is very small, however, an inexperienced reader or viewer sometimes gets the complete impression that there is only truth there. Historical analogies perfectly testify to how cleverly and, at the same time, rude propagandists wishful thinking, and black for white. For example, this one.

It is well known that in the 1870s the huge Ottoman Empire, which stretched from Africa and Asia to Central Europe, began to rapidly collapse. So, in 1878, after the defeat suffered by the Ottoman Empire in the war with Russia, the Turks lost Serbia, Montenegro, Romania, Cyprus, Epirus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, South Bessarabia, part of Thessaly, Karr and Batumi regions at once, and were also forced to recognize autonomy of a large part of Bulgaria. It was a complete rout. So what? Turkish state propaganda pretended that nothing had happened.

Here is how one of the Turkish newspapers wrote then:

“It was pleasing to the shadow of God to grant peace to the Russians. The faithful know that the accursed icon-worshippers rebelled, refused to pay tribute, took up arms and opposed the ruler of the faithful, armed with the diabolical tricks of modern times. Praise be to God. The truth has prevailed. Our merciful and victorious sovereign this time, completely alone, emerged from the struggle as a winner of unfaithful dogs. In his incredible goodness and mercy, he agreed to grant the unclean dogs the peace for which they humiliatedly asked him. Now, believers, the universe will again be ruled from Istanbul. The brother of the ruler of the Russians has to immediately appear with a large retinue in Istanbul and to dust and ashes, in the face of the whole world, to ask for forgiveness and bring repentance. At the same time, the usual tribute due to them has to be paid, after which the ruler of the faithful, in his inexhaustible mercy and long-suffering, will again confirm the ruler of the Russians in his position as vassal governor of his country. But in order to avert the possibility of new indignation and resistance, the Sultan, in his capacity as supreme ruler of the land, ordered that 50,000 Russians remain as hostages in Bulgaria. The rest of the unfaithful dogs can return to their homeland, but only after they have passed in the deepest reverence through Istanbul or near it.

There can be only one conclusion from this: when you come across officialdom, loudly broadcasting about the next geopolitical successes of the Fatherland, keep in mind: victorious reports in autocracies often have nothing to do with reality.