In 2022, Newsweek reported that the network has a history of bigotry and antisemitic conspiracy theories:
A retired Turkish ambassador on a talk show CNN Turk aired in April erroneously claimed, "Jews rule the world. They control 27 percent of the U.S. economy." A senior adviser to Erdogan joined him with his incorrect, dangerous and antisemitic rants: "They also rule the military, politics, media and more importantly the movie industry." During this exchange, the CNN Turk anchor intervened only once to note that although there are only 7 million Jews in the United States, "their influence is very high."This was not a one-off episode. The previous year, Brooklyn College associate professor Louis Fishman criticized CNN Turk for another talk show, where a guest known for his antisemitic conspiracy theories claimed that an Israeli professor at Harvard University had developed the COVID-19 virus as a biological weapon in partnership with a Wuhan lab. This antisemitic trope came at a sensitive time when a spike in coronavirus cases in Turkey also exacerbated antisemitic narratives, triggering accusations that Jews were responsible for the pandemic. When one of the other guests tried to push back against such a conspiracy theory, the CNN Turk moderator intervened in defense, "But can his theory be disproved?"
The article mentions that there were reports that CNN International was seeking clarification about the channel, concerned that this antisemitic content reflects badly on the CNN name. But nothing happened.
While the examples listed above were of CNN Turk interviewing antisemites, the network could claim that their opinions do not reflect those of the network itself. But since then CNN Turk directly published antisemitic conspiracy theories under its own voice.
In November 2023, CNN Turk claimed that Israel had a secret plan to buy up large areas of Turkish occupied Northern Cyprus. This is a common conspiracy theory in Turkey, but CNN Turk added:
It is clear that the interest of Jews from Israel and all over the world in the island of Cyprus is not an ordinary and spontaneous interest. The island of Cyprus is located within the “Promised Land” of the Jews. They are very active not only in the north of the island but also in the south, which is under Greek control. What is the real purpose of the “Larnaca-Gaza Humanitarian Aid Corridor” project that suddenly came to the fore after the Gaza issue emerged? Is their concern really humanitarian aid activities or are they preparing to take one of the steps that will turn Cyprus into a second homeland for Israel?
And then it printed a map of the supposed Biblical borders of Israel that the State of Israel intends to expand to, which includes large parts of Turkey.
Notice that even this map, which extends way beyond the Euphrates, still doesn't include Cyprus. It was copied from another Turkish site which extended Greater Israel into southeastern Turkey.
And more recently, CNN Turk had a feature about the "Gharqad tree", the tree mentioned in the Islamic hadith that supposedly will protect the Jews when all other stones and trees tell Muslims where Jews can be found to be slaughtered. CNN Turk states as fact:
According to the hadiths, it is thought that the garquad tree will hide the Jews in a war between Muslims and Jews. For this reason, the Jews plant a lot of garquad trees, especially in the Israeli region. Every tree and every stone that the Jews hide behind will inform the Jew behind it, but the garquad tree will remain silent. For this reason, it is a tree that is planted in abundance by the Jews.
Of course CNN Turk happily interviews "experts" who describe how awful Israel and Jews are, including anti-Zionist Jews.
CNN cannot be unaware of these reports. Apparently, it isn't bothered by blatant antisemitism broadcast under its name.
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"He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024) PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022) |
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