The Turkish ruling party of Recep Tayyip Erdogan has supported Hamas in the past and been slammed by the US State Department for hosting Hamas leaders in 2020 and for antisemitic statements in 2021. Turkey called Israel a “terror state” during the recent conflict in Gaza.
At Turkey’s state-run TRT the coverage on May 21 was entirely devoted to Gaza. The homepage top story was about how Jerusalem is still “occupied” according to the Palestinians. It also had a story about the ceasefire and a story claiming that Gaza is “hell on earth” and a third article claiming Israel and India are part of an “Islamophobic Alliance.” This isn’t news coverage, but just anti-Israel articles. There is no sense of balance, just one agenda.
BEYOND THE top stories was an article about the “making of the Jewish extremist Meir Kahane.” Turkish media regularly slanders Jews, Kurds and Armenians and Greeks, singling these groups out and referring to them as “terrorist” or “extremist.” It does not do the same for Turks or Arabs or Muslims. For instance it will use the term “Jewish extremist” or “Armenian terrorist” but for Al Qaeda it will not use the term “Arab extremist” or “Muslim terrorist.”This is a clear pattern and message. Turkish media slanders Jews, Armenians, Kurds and others, which it targets usually at the behest of the ruling party. For instance when the US recognized the Armenian genocide the Turkish media had days of coverage about “Armenian terrorism.” Turkey’s media is the among the only state media in the world that regularly pushes racist, antisemitic and ethnic and religious based discrimination.
Beyond the article about Meir Kahane, who has been dead for decades, there was an article claiming that “Arab wavering on Palestine serves the interests of Iran and Netanyahu.” Then there was an article about a Gazan bookstore damaged in the conflict and an article asking how much influence the US has over Israel. The article quotes anti-Israel voices claiming that American politicians put Israeli interests before the US and that the Israel “lobby” manipulates the US political system.This is essentially an antisemitic argument that Turkey’s media launders via quotes from others. Pakistan’s foreign minister told CNN on May 20 that Israel has “deep pockets” and controls the US media, an antisemitic argument similar to this one.
After the article about the Israel lobby, TRT has an article by Richard Falk claiming this is the “last stand of settler colonialism,” a reference to Israel. Another article claims Norway has cut ties with firms “linked to illegal occupied West Bank settlements.” Then there is a story on the homepage about Gazan children who “wake up terrified” and a feature on Israel killing “14 family members” of one family.Another feature asks “can the Israel envoy fool the world” and another looks at Turkey’s anti-Israel push at the UN. More and more stories follow on Gaza, appearing to be more than half the coverage of TRT on May 21. That Turkey appears to have had half of all its reporters covering Israel in the last week appears to be unique in the world. No other media did such coverage.
Anadolu, another pro-government Turkish media giant, had similar amounts of coverage. It had a front page story about the “terror state Israel” and another story about Palestinians celebrating the ceasefire. Then there is a story about “Israeli air strikes color Eid cookies, memories with blood.” Then a story about the cease fire and stories about the UN and US President Joe Biden and Israel.Under the features on the home page, two third are about Israel. One is about Turkey sending aid to Gaza and a woman talking about Palestinian songs. Then there are stories about Pakistan and the “Palestine crisis” and Turkish religious far-right groups working to cooperate “for Palestine.” Then an analysis of the “UK government accused of hypocrisy on Palestine.”
Under the top videos two thirds are also about the conflict. One has a woman singing about how “there was once a land called Palestine.” Under more features there is a story about Israel’s “so-called surgical strikes target surgical wards.” Another article focuses on the antisemitic Pakistani foreign minister, but praises him, rather than critiquing him.
AS IF that wasn’t enough coverage, under analysis and opinion the website’s top stories are on “Israel’s new Palestine strategy,” and “Israel’s violence in Gaza” and “how Jewish fundamentalism is taking over Israeli democracy.” Once again we see the use of the term “Jewish” next to a negative word, whereas Anadolu never writes about “Muslim fundamentalism.” Another analysis claims Arab cities in Israel are starting an intifada.
Under Anadolu’s homepage “photos” section, all the photos are about Palestinians. There is one on the ceasefire, one on an unexploded bomb, one on “Israel continue attacking Gaza,” showing kids riding the unexploded bomb. More cover “Israel attacks on Gaza.”
At Daily Sabah the coverage is similar. After most of the top headlines are about Israel, the opinion section claims Israel is an apartheid state and asked “when will the world wake up to this brutality.”
The level of Turkish media obsession with Israel is unprecedented and disproportionate. There is no other conflict in the world it covers like this. It is clear the orders come from the top to have this wall-to-wall coverage. No critical voices are quoted. Turkish media never critiques its own country or its own leadership or its own endless wars in places like Libya, Syria and Iraq.Compared to Iran’s media, which has one or two stories in the top headlines about Israel, and the rest devoted to other issues, Turkey’s media is almost two-thirds stories about Israel and the Palestinians. All of them are anti-Israel and many of them are just pure propaganda, like whole articles devoted to claiming Israel’s envoy to the UN is misleading in his statements. The question that remains to be seen is how much Turkey's right wing pro-government media machine fuels antisemitic attacks that rapidly increased during this round of fighting.