ANKARA: Turkey will elect their new parliament and president on Sunday as the country is at an important turning point, with new fears of foreign intervention in the elections.
Turkey’s opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu accused Russia of interfering with Turkish elections, claiming that Russians are behind the “deep fake” and defamatory material that has been circulating on social media for the previous several days. He issued the statement via his social media account.
Erdogan’s Rival accuses Russia of ‘Deep Fake’ Campaign
“Dear Russian friends, you are behind the montages, conspiracies, deep fake content, and recordings that were exposed in this country yesterday. If you want our friendship to continue after May 15, get your hands off the Turkish state. We still side by cooperation and friendship”.
Moscow, on the other hand, rejected Kilicdaroglu’s allegations, stating in a statement, “If someone gave him such information, they are liars.” The German Marshall Fund of the United States Ankara office director stated, “Russia has the capability and track record of using disinformation to influence, to impact politics in other countries.” Russian election meddling in the United States and Germany has been clearly documented. He further claimed that it is no secret that Russia intervenes in Turkish domestic politics. As a result, it would not be surprising if Russia engaged in negative influence operations in Turkey as well. Russia has been accused of meddling in the 2016 US presidential election, as well as the French presidential campaign and the German elections in 2017.
According to Unluhisarcikli, Turkey today is severely polarized, mainstream media has been removed, and Turkish people live in echo chambers and have enormous distrust for one another. As a result, Turkey is extremely vulnerable to malicious foreign influence.
Last weekend, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also aired an alleged deep fake video in which fighters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, announced their support for his rival Kilicdaroglu. However, the video, which attempted to link the opposition to terrorist organizations, was later revealed to be fake.
