Black propaganda campaign using false tweets targets Zaman daily chief

A black propaganda operation is being conducted against Zaman daily Editor-in-Chief Ekrem Dumanlı using fabricated tweets that are made to look as though they were posted on Twitter by Dumanlı.

Circles close to the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government have been conducting a large-scale black propaganda war against the Hizmet movement, inspired by Turkish-Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, and media outlets close to the movement since a corruption scandal erupted last month in which three Cabinet ministers' sons, many state bureaucrats and renowned businessmen accused of giving bribes in exchange for favors have been implicated. The government has accused the Hizmet movement of participating in a plot that is behind the corruption investigation.

The latest victim of the government propaganda effort is Zaman daily Editor-in-Chief Dumanlı. For the last three days, fabricated tweets have been posted on Twitter under Dumanlı's name. In one of those fake messages, it was made to appear as though Dumanlı warned the Fenerbahçe Sports Club management over the Supreme Court of Appeals decision to uphold Fenerbahçe Chairman Aziz Yıldırım's conviction in a match-fixing trial. The falsified tweet reads: “The penalty given to Fenerbahçe Chairman Aziz Yıldırım is a good decision. My advice is that from now on the Fenerbahçe management should be more cautious before they decide to slander Cemaat [the Hizmet Movement] again.”

This fabricated message was posted and retweeted by some Twitter users close to the government with the comment, “Here is the tweet that Dumanlı deleted after he was harshly criticized.”

Some pro-government Twitter users who shared this fake tweet even tried to instigate Fenerbahçe fan groups to organize a demonstration in front of the Zaman daily headquarters in İstanbul.

In response to this falsified tweet that was spread across Twitter in a very short time, Dumanlı denied the message on his official Twitter account. Dumanlı wrote: “There is a fabricated tweet circulating on Twitter that is attributed me. This tweet definitely isn't mine! Those who spread false tweets produced with Photoshop are obviously libelers. They are pursuing a treacherous plan.”

The 5th Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals on Friday upheld Yıldırım's conviction for match-fixing. Yıldırım was convicted in July 2012 and sentenced to six years, three months in prison for fixing games, trying to influence the outcome of matches and leading a criminal gang.

Some media outlets claimed earlier that the AK Party government hired thousands of Twitter users to intimidate anti-government commentators, including a report published in the Taraf daily in November 2013 that stated that the government was allegedly planning to set up a special agency to finance an army of 6,000 Twitter users.

Published on Today's Zaman, 20 January 2014, Monday