Israel violates journalists’ right to life, says Turkish communications director

Turkish Communications Director Fahrettin Altun blasted on Monday Israel’s ongoing aggression against Palestinians, which has led to the killing of 46 journalists so far.

Speaking at a meeting hosted by Anadolu, in which the Alliance of Turkic News Agencies (ATNA) was officially formed, Altun emphasized the need to stop Israel’s ongoing attacks against Gaza and condemned its killing of civilians including journalists.

"With its attacks, Israel does not even let journalists live, let alone letting them reveal and express the truth,” he said.

The director also condemned Israel’s killing of Anadolu cameraman Mohamed Alaloul’s four children.

"I hereby wish Allah's mercy on the innocent children of our brother Mohamed Alaloul, whom he lost as a result of an Israeli airstrike,” he said.

"I pray for his patience and express my condolences for this indescribable pain."

Altun also lashed out at Western media for "covering up" Israel's war crimes.

"The major media companies of Western countries have embarked on an incredible and shameless effort to keep this massacre from the attention of the world public opinion.

"History will never forgive this hypocrisy and this evil, which has wounded and devastated the conscience of all humanity,” he said, adding that “when the time comes, those who remain silent in the face of oppression” will be condemned by the global community.

"We, together with all our institutions working in the field of communication and media in Türkiye, prioritized revealing the truth and achieving justice, especially in the face of Western media outlets’ biased coverage," Altun added, saying that some global media organizations behave “as if they were instructed by the Israeli military."

He also emphasized that companies running global news organizations are "inextricably linked to global capital."

The communications director slammed Israel’s ongoing efforts to show its aggression in a good light by using news organizations, disinformation and propaganda on social media.

"Yes, we are faced with systematic disinformation, and this systematic disinformation is not a situation resulting from randomly produced information inflation. It is the result of an evil committed even by major Western media companies," he said.

"This disinformation and systematic fake news campaign is essentially the result of a performance to conceal cruelty and evil."

The director also said that Türkiye is sparing no effort to "lift the curtains on the truth."

"Against the disinformation activities carried out by Israel and pro-Israeli supporters, Türkiye is trying to lift the curtains on the truth with intense effort and to quickly bring the facts to the attention of the whole world public opinion," he said.

"Such attempts, which are aimed at manipulating the perceptions of the world public opinion in order to cover up the war crimes committed and to legitimize the genocide, may possibly lead to a much deeper crisis in our region and the world,” Altun also said.

"Under the leadership of our President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, we will continue to stand for peace, justice and truth, and to fight against oppression, injustice and human rights violations."