March 2016

Claim: Turkey forces Islamic education

2016-03-22 07:46 GMT
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On 10 March 2016, Mort Abramowitz and Eric Edelman, both former US ambassadors to Turkey, published an article in the Washington Post and claimed that “tens of thousands of children, including religious minorities, have been forcibly sent to Islamic schools or subjected to mandatory Islamic religious education” in Turkey under the rule of the ruling Justice and Dev

Claim: Erdogan says "democracy, freedom, rule of law have no value for us"

2016-03-21 04:28 GMT
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On 18 March 2016, The Independent's Lizzie Dearden wrote a news article and claimed that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that democracy, freedom and the rule of law have absolutely no value in a meeting held at Turkey’s presidential complex on 16 March 2016.1

Claim: AK Party media relations head wishes Israeli victims’ death

2016-03-19 05:05 GMT
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On 19 March 2016, the Jerusalem Post claimed that “an official from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AK Party tweeted she wished the Israelis who were said to be wounded in Saturday’s Istanbul suicide blast were dead. The Jerusalem Post claimed so-called official of the AK Party named Irem Aktas is the “head of the party’s media relations and women’s outreach department."1

Claim: Turkey forcibly expels Syrian refugees back to Syria

2016-03-15 08:27 GMT
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On 10 March 2016, Guy Verhofstadt published an article in The Guardian about a deal between the EU and Turkey on refugees.1 In the article, he claimed that the asylum system for Syrian refugees in Turkey is not functioning, human rights in Turkey is appalling, and Turkey expels Syrian refugees back to Syria. He wrote: 

Claim: Turkey’s refugee camps in terrible shape

2016-03-08 01:17 GMT
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On 15 February 2015, in the Guardian newspaper, Cihan Tugal published an article in which he claimed that Turkey opened its borders to Syrian refugees but didn’t do more to welcome them.1 He alleged that the refugee camps in Turkey are in terrible shape and Syrians have to beg in the inner cities. He also alleged the spread of Syrians has polarised Turkish society. He wrote: