Turkish opposition calls Erdogan a ‘fabricator’ over doctored video
ANKARA (Reuters) – The man challenging for the Turkish presidency has accused President Tayyip Erdogan of being a “fabricator” after he cited a doctored video to allege opposition links to an outlawed militant Kurdish group ahead of a runoff election on Sunday.
Erdogan repeated the allegation and referred to the doctored video, splicing footage of Kemal Kilicdaroglu and a Kurdish militant, in an interview with state broadcaster TRT late on Monday, despite having been criticized by the opposition for showing it earlier in his campaign.
The origins of the video are unknown.
“I am tired of being slandered, but he is not tired of slandering me,” Kilicdaroglu wrote on Twitter.
Opponents of Erdogan consider the accusations to be a symptom of a media landscape tilted heavily in his favor after a decade of transformation, imprisonment of journalists and closures of critical outlets. They say this has presented voters with a different reflection of reality ahead of the election.
Reporters Without Borders ranks Turkey No. 165 out of 180 countries for press freedoms.
Erdogan’s allegations have added to tension ahead of the runoff. The election is seen as the stiffest test yet for the president, who seeks to extend his rule into a third decade.
Though his standing has been hit by a cost-of-living crisis, Erdogan emerged ahead of Kilicdaroglu in the first round.
Seeking to tap nationalist sentiment, Erdogan has repeatedly suggested links between the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the opposition, without providing evidence.
The doctored video, screened by Erdogan at a May 7 rally, comprises footage taken from a Kilicdaroglu campaign video and PKK images from a video released online 10 months ago in which the militants cheer their top commander, Murat Karayilan.
Referring to the video in his interview on Monday, Erdogan once again accused Kilicdaroglu of cooperating with the PKK, which is deemed a terrorist group by Turkey and its Western allies. The PKK has been waging an insurgency since 1984 in which more than 40,000 people have been killed.