A video of Türkiye PresidentTayyip Erdoğan addressing the media about his meeting with the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in July this year is being shared with a false claim that he issued a warning to the United States to not interfere in the Israel - Hamas conflict.
BOOM found that Erdoğan did not mention the US or issue any such warning in July or recently and that in the video he was talking about the loss of life and illegal settlements in Palestine.
On October 7, 2023, Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an attack on several regions in Israel leaving more than 700 dead and many others held hostage. Following the same, Israel launched air strikes on the Gaza strip and has cut off supply to essential services including food and water to the region. Verified visuals being reported by news outlets from the region show Hamas militia parading a naked body of a woman and attacking people who were attending a music festival being held in the region.
The international community has expressed outrage and shock with the European Union putting a halt on development funding being given to Palestine. The video of Türkiye President Tayyip Erdoğan is being shared in the same context as he has been a long standing supporter of Palestine.
The 18-second video was tweeted on X (formerly Twitter) with the text, "Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has issued a warning, urging Americans to stay away from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and asserting that Turkey will defend Palestine at any cost."
The video has subtitles added which read, "I am warning America don't in Israel Palestine war. We are with our innocent Palestenian brothers. We are ready to defend Palestine at any price." (Sic)
FACT CHECK
BOOM found that the text on the video has been added to make the false claim and in the original Türkiye President Tayyip Erdoğan does not mention US. The video is also not after the recent Hamas' attack on Israel but when the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas visited Türkiye in July 2023.
We reached out to Teyit, an independent fact checking organisation based in Türkiye who confirmed that the subtitles in the video do not match what Erdoğan said at the press conference.
Teyit informed us that in the original speech, Erdoğan, said, "…and we are deeply concerned about settler violence. Hereby, I once again wish God's mercy on our Palestinian brothers and sisters who lost their lives and offer my condolences to the Palestinian state and people."
The Teyit fact checker further confirmed that Erdoğan does not mention the United States in the viral video.
Teyit also sent us the official press release uploaded by the Turkish government's Communications department on its site about the press conference. The press release dated July 25, 2023 talks about the visit of Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas to the country and his meeting with the Turkish President.
Quoting Erdoğan's press conference, the statement reads, "We follow the developments in Palestine closely in this regard. We are deeply concerned about the increasing loss of life, destruction, expansion of illegal settlements and settler violence. On this occasion, I once again offer my condolences to our Palestinian brothers and sisters who lost their lives, and my condolences to the Palestinian state and people. The only way to a just and lasting peace in the region is to defend the vision of a two-state solution. It is not possible for us to accept actions aimed at changing the historical status quo of holy places, especially Masjid al-Aqsa. Unity and reconciliation among our Palestinian brothers is one of the fundamental elements in this process."
Using this information, we ran a specific keyword search and found the full video of the press meet uploaded on the official YouTube channel of the office of the President of Türkiye. We heard the full speech and used the auto translation of subtitles feature and did not find a mention of America or the US by Erdoğan.
Watch full video below :
Additionally, a search for a recent statement by President Erdogan after the Hamas attack on Israel led us to news reports from October 8. 2023. The Turkish news agency, Anadolu reported, that, "Turkish President Erdogan calls for ‘independent, geographically integrated Palestinian state’. The report further said that the president speaking at an event, said, "Lasting peace in the Middle East is only possible through a final settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict...Türkiye is ready to do its part to stop the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and reduce the tensions that escalated on Saturday."
