Published December 10,2025
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Turkish first lady Emine Erdoğan called out Israel for intentionally targeting journalists in the Gaza Strip, saying Israel is suppressing the truth.
Speaking at the Turkish Communications Directorate’s “Women Witnesses of Genocide: Media and Resistance in Gaza” program, Erdoğan said Israel has killed close to 300 journalists in two years, including 37 women, calling the figures unprecedented in modern conflict reporting.
Before the program, Erdoğan viewed an exhibit featuring photos of journalists who were killed. She also welcomed Palestinian reporters and filmmaker Basel Adra, whose documentary No Other Land has received international recognition.
Erdoğan praised Adra’s work for drawing global attention to the long-term displacement and violence faced by Palestinians.
She said Israel has bombed journalists’ homes, targeted reporters with drones in hospital courtyards, and detained others under harsh conditions, adding these actions reflect a broader attempt to restrict any documentation of events on the ground.
“They are placing truth under blockade. Instead of protecting journalists, they disregard international law and norms and deliberately target them,” she said.
“Consider this: the Israeli army bombed the homes of Palestinian journalists to intimidate them. They wiped them out along with their families and neighbors. Even in hospital courtyards, which should be the safest places, they killed journalists with drones. Those they could not kill were left to die in prisons that have become factories of some of the worst atrocities in history.”
“To prevent the truth from reaching the world, Israel carried out a systematic field execution policy. Not satisfied with that, they labeled the journalists they killed ‘terrorists’ to justify their crimes. They shut down the offices of national media outlets such as Al Jazeera, calling them a ‘national threat’.”
Communications Director Burhanettin Duran said journalists in Gaza continued reporting despite losing family members and colleagues.
He said Western media organizations contributed to information suppression by adopting editorial approaches that downplayed or ignored developments in Gaza.
“Journalists lost their families and colleagues. They went hungry and thirsty, but they never gave up on one thing: delivering the truth to the world and telling the story of Palestine. They succeeded despite everything. Despite the different stances taken by some Western-centered international media outlets, they succeeded,” he said.
“These outlets systematically turned into propaganda tools of genocide through disinformation, manipulation, blackout tactics, and false reporting. This did not happen only in conventional media. Supportive actions toward Israel in digital media also became shameful marks in history. Social media companies used algorithms as weapons, building digital walls to silence Palestinian voices,” he added.
Duran acknowledged the work of Turkish media organizations, including state broadcaster TRT and Anadolu, for maintaining regular reporting from Gaza and supporting Palestinian journalists.
He said the events in Gaza have demonstrated the need for stronger national control over digital infrastructure and data systems.
“The Gaza crisis has shown that digital sovereignty is directly connected to national security,” said Duran, noting that Türkiye is working to expand local platforms and reinforce domestic data networks.
