Yeni Şafak

Yeni Şafak ("New Dawn") is a  conservative Turkish daily newspaper. The newspaper is known for its hardline support of president  Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the AKP.  It, together with other media organizations in Turkey, has been accused of using hate speech  to target minorities and opposition groups.

Yeni Şafak made international headlines when it was discovered that the newspaper had fabricated an interview with  Noam Chomsky.

History
Yeni Şafak's  founding editor was Mehmet Ocaktan . In the beginning,  Yeni Şafak was known for harboring both libreal  and Islamist  columnists. Yeni Şafak was acquired by Albayrak Holding  in 1997, which had close ties with then mayor of Istanbul, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. After İbrahim Karagül became the editor-in-chief of  Yeni Şafak, the newspaper became a hardline supporter of then prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.  More Islamist columnists were employed, while liberals like Kürşat Bumin were fired from the newspaper because of their critical views of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the AKP.

Fabricated Noam Chomsky interview
On August 26,  Noam Chomsky accused the pro-government  Yeni Şafak<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> newspaper of fabricating parts of an interview that was done with him via email <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, including inventing questions and answers and altering criticism of Erdoğan's approach to Egypt and Syria into an assertion that Turkey "stood with the oppressed people in Syria and Egypt". <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> The administration of  Yeni Şafak<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> denied the accusation and promised to release the original English content of the emails. However, the released original was full of grammatical mistakes. Later it was found out that  Yeni Şafak<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> used  Google Translate to translate fabricated Turkish content into English, and presented the translation as the original interview. <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> After the grammatical errors, particularly "milk port", became a sensation on social media,  Yeni Şafak<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> finally admitted some parts were fabricated and removed the entire interview from its web site.

Disinformation during Gezi Protests
Yeni Şafak<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> newspaper was a primary source of disinformation during  2013–14 protests in Turkey. According to a report published by  Hrant Dink Foundation<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">,  Yeni Şafak<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> was the primary newspaper generating hate speech against Gezi protestors.

<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">On June 4  Yeni Şafak<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> claimed that protestors who took refuge in  Dolmabahçe Mosque during police attempts to quell civil unrest had consumed alcohol inside the mosque. <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> PM  Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> said that they would release security camera footage of proving this had occurred. However, the imam <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> of Dolmabahçe Mosque denied the paper's allegations and no footage was released to the public. <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Later, the imam (who is a state employee of the mosque) was transferred to a different city.

<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">The paper also claimed a headscarved woman was by attacked by a gang of shirtless protestors near Dolmabahce Mosque at a tram station on June 1, 2013. On February 14, 2014, several months after the end of the protests, security camera footage showed that there had been no attack on a woman wearing a  headscarf by protesters on that date. The woman and Prime Minister Erdoğan had claimed in press conferences and political rallies that protesters had attacked her and her baby.

Yeni Şafak<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> also claimed that Gezi protestors were planning to burn the streets on the holy  Islamic day of Isra and Mi'raj. On the same day,  Yeni Şafak<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> published a list of Turkish advertising agencies it claimed had organized the protests.

<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">On June 6,  Yeni Şafak<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> claimed that the Zello mobile app, which was used by protestors to communicate during the protests, was delivered to them by a source in Houston <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and that protestors were taking orders from that source.

<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">On June 10,  Yeni Şafak<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> claimed that a theatre play called "Mi Minor", allegedly supported by an agency in the United Kingdom <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, had held rehearsals for a "revolution" in Turkey for months.

<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">On June 24, during one of the public forums in Istanbul  <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">which was televised live on Halk TV, a protestor said that maybe they should wear police uniforms to protest police brutality. Pro-AKP media sources such as  Yeni Şafak<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> claimed that Halk TV was planning a provocation by telling protestors to wear police uniforms and make false-flag attacks.

<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">On July 14  Yeni Şafak<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> published an article, called "The Horrible Istanbul Plan of the Gezi Protestors", on their website that claimed that Gezi protestors were conspiring to undermine the government by wasting water from the reservoirs supplying Istanbul. <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> After the article became a source of mocking nationwide,  Yeni Şafak<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> removed the article from their web site.

Other disinformation incidents
<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">On January 15, 2016,  Yeni Şafak<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> published a video purportedly showing live audience members of the prime-time  Beyaz Show talk show chanting slogans in support of outlawed Kurdish leader  Abdullah Öcalan. <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">British investigative news agency D8 News <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> published a  forensic analysis demonstrating that the audio track was modified before publication, adding voices sampled from an unrelated protest. <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> The article also presented evidence that  Yeni Şafak<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> editors likely attempted to cover up their claims rather than issuing a formal retraction. The falsification incident was subsequently corroborated and covered by other news outlets in Turkey.

Anti-Semitism
<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">On July 11, 2014,  Yeni Şafak<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> columnist  İbrahim Sancak<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> resorted to hate speech against Jews <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">.

<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">On July 11, 2014,  Yeni Şafak<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> columnist  Yusuf Kaplan<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> resorted to hate speech against Jews <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">.

<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">On July 23 and 30 2014,  Yeni Şafak<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> columnist  İbrahim Tenekeci<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> resorted to hate speech against Jews <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and identified them as "eternal pain of humanity".

Anti-LGBT
<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">On June 6, 2012,  Yeni Şafak<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> columnist  A. Fuat Erdoğan<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> identified homosexuality as perversion.

<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">On May 13, 2013,  Yeni Şafak<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> columnist  Yusuf Kaplan<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> identified sexual identities other than heterosexuality as perversion.

Anti-Abortion
<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">On June 6, 2012,  Yeni Şafak<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> columnist  A. Fuat Erdoğan<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> resorted to hate speech against pro-abortion women.

Attacks on journalists
<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">On October 12, 2014,  Yeni Şafak<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> columnist  Cem Küçük<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> threatened journalists Ahmet Hakan  <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">and Fatih Altaylı <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> saying "They will pay a heavy price for treason". <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">  Cem Küçük<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">compared those journalists to  Julian Assange, whom he identified as a "So called journalist who published disgusting articles."

<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">On November 11, 2014,  Yeni Şafak<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> columnist  Cem Küçük<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> threatened Doğan Media Group <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> CEO Aydın Doğan <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. He said if Aydın Doğan does not fire journalists like Ahmet Hakan <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, it will not be possible for Aydın Doğan to carry out some planned construction projects. He added "Aydın Doğan's future is in his own hands now."