Fact check: Manipulated video of Erdogan challenger? – DW – 05/08/2023

Only days before Turkey’s key parliamentary and presidential election, which has been described as the most important vote in the world this year, one video is stirring significant controversy.

The video was presented by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a political rally on Sunday.

During the gathering, Erdogan is heard addresssing the crowd, asking “Would my national and local citizens vote for these?” He then points to a large screen behind him.

The screen shows what looks like campaign footage of Erdogan’s main challenger, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, telling viewers “let’s go to the ballot box together.”

After a few seconds, Kilicdaroglu disappears off screen and a second person, dressed in a military uniform, appears. The footage still seems to be part of Kilicdaroglu’s campaign video.

This second figure is Murat Karayilan, one of the founders of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party or PKK, a militant Kurdish organization which is classified as a terrorist organization in the European Union and the United States.

Claim: With this video, Erdogan purports to link his main rival to the PKK, which the Turkish government also considers to be a terrorist group. But is the video shown by Erdogan real? Did Karayilan appear in Kilicdaroglu’s campaign video to show his support?

DW Fact check: False.

Research by DW’s fact-checking team in cooperation with DW’s Turkish service shows that the video at the campaign rally was manipulated by combining two separate videos with totally different backgrounds and content.

According to Pelin Ünker Kurtulus from DW’s Turkish service, “this video presented by Erdogan comes after experts warned of increased manipulation on Turkish social media ahead of the elections.”

“It has been pointed out that fake news campaigns on Twitter and bot accounts are on the rise,” he added.

Two videos in one

The first of the two videos is Kilicdaroglu’s original campaign video, which can be viewed in full here, on his verified YouTube channel. It is a typical political ad that asks people to vote, and promises victory at the polls. But it does not contain footage of Karayilan, or the PKK.

The edited footage shown by Erdogan, which is a close-up of the original, likely is lifted from the scene beginning at second 00:37 in Kilicdaroglu’s ad.

This timestamp can be identified by focusing on Kilicdaroglu’s words (“let’s go to the ballot box together”), the movement of his right arm, and the young people standing behind him.

However, in the original campaign video, the scene that follows immediately after does not show Murat Karayilan, but two women leaving a building.

Decontextualizing old footage

Meanwhile, the second video appears to be much older. It can be found by carrying out an advanced online search of similar images of Karaliyan in military dress.

The video shows the PKK leader talking about what he calls the start of the PKK’s armed struggle over three decades ago, according to the website where it was published — Firat News Agency, a Kurdish outlet.

The article accompanying the video was published on  August 15, 2021.

In Erdogan’s manipulated video, the footage of Karayilan was likely taken from this video and decontextualized to give the impression that Karayilan was supporting Kilicdaroglu.

In sum, Erdogan presented altered footage which resulted from combining scenes from Kilicdaroglu’s campaign video with an older video message by Karayilan, and editing it into one film.

But it does not appear to be, as several Turkish commentators argued, a deepfake — a video file created with artificial intelligence.

Read more: How do I spot a deepfake?

Political relevance

According to Kurtulus, “Erdogan has been strategically using a fake video, while increasing his rhetoric aimed at provoking society so that he can collect votes from conservative and nationalist segments.”

DW has not found any comments by Kilicdaroglu on the fake video.

“And the Presidential Directorate of Communications, which defines disinformation even as the issues raised by the opposition in parliament, did not make a statement about the video shown at Erdogan’s rally,” Kurtulus added.

On Sunday, Turkey’s general election will determine whether Erdogan can continue his nearly 20-year reign as Turkey’s president.

Erdogan is not the clear favorite, and polls have shown his electoral alliance trailing behind that of the opposition.

Edited by Maren Sass