THE “BESSARABIAN QUESTION” OF 1918 IN THE MEDIA DISCOURSE OF ODESA AT THE TIMES OF UKRAINSKA DERZHAVA (BASED ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE NEWSPAPER “VILNE ZHYTTIA”)
THE “BESSARABIAN QUESTION” OF 1918 IN THE MEDIA DISCOURSE OF ODESA AT THE TIMES OF UKRAINSKA DERZHAVA (BASED ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE NEWSPAPER “VILNE ZHYTTIA”)

Summary/Abstract: The study is devoted to examining the interpretation of some ways to resolve the “Bessarabian Question” in the media space of Odesa during the period when Hetman P. Skoropadskyi was in power in Ukraine (based on the example of the daily socio-political newspaper “Vilne Zhyttia” (“Free Life”)). The scientific novelty of the article lies in the analysis of interstate relations in the Trans-Danube region at the end of the First World War through the prism of periodicals. Findings show that, between May and September 1918, out of nearly 90 articles on Romania-related themes published in the newspaper, about 60 were focused on Bessarabia.The official information published in the newspaper primarily reflected Kyiv’s disagreement with the logic of resolving the Romanian-Ukrainian territorial conflict. Even after the conclusion of the Bucharest Peace Treaty (the Treaty of Bucharest), the hetman government regularly articulated an alternative point of view regarding the ownership of the former Bessarabia Governorate (Province), emphasising the multi-ethnicity of the region, the predominance of the Ukrainian population in some of its counties (povits), and the illegitimacy of the Sfatul Ţării in making such decisions. Reports on the life of the people in Bessarabia usually contained a critical assessment of the Romanian authorities’ actions in the region, primarily in the sphere of socio-economic and educational policy. The overall conclusion of the analysed information leaves no doubt that the reflection of the editorial board of “Vilne Zhyttia”, and therefore of a significant part of inhabitants of south-western Ukraine, on the political, socio-economic and cultural prospects of the population of Bessarabia as part of the Kingdom of Romania appeared to be pessimistic.

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