400 percent increase in news about Bilal Erdoğan

News about Bilal Erdoğan in the pro-government media never begins with the phrase “President Erdoğan’s son,” nor are his commercial activities ever mentioned. Instead, the events Bilal Erdoğan attends and his speeches are reported, and different titles are used depending on the situation:

“Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for the Dissemination of Knowledge (İlim Yayma Vakfı), member of the High Advisory Board of the Turkey Youth Foundation (TÜGVA), President of the World Ethnosport Confederation, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the New Turkey Education Foundation (YETEV).”

In this way, the pro-government media presents Bilal Erdoğan to readers and viewers as a political figure who attends cultural and social events and values developments in these fields. To quantify the increase in events attended by Bilal Erdoğan, I scanned the pro-government media. There is a massive numerical difference between the news about Bilal Erdoğan from last year and the first days of this year.

Last year, the first news story about Bilal Erdoğan in the media was published on January 1, 2025, due to his participation in the Gaza March on the Galata Bridge, and on January 6, 2025, Bilal Erdoğan attended the “Conversation with Youth: From Tradition to Future” program organized by the Arnavutköy Municipality and the World Ethnosport Confederation. On February 8, 2025, he attended and spoke at the Ordinary General Assembly of the Kocaeli Branch of the Foundation for the Dissemination of Knowledge. These are the only events Bilal Erdoğan attended and was reported on in the first 40 days of last year.

The events and news coverage involving Bilal Erdoğan have increased manifold this year. Between January 1 and February 9 of this year, exactly 16 news reports were published regarding events and speeches attended by Bilal Erdoğan:

“Gaza march on the Galata Bridge (January 1), Ethnosport Culture Festival Photography Exhibition (January 7), the Foundation for the Dissemination of Knowledge’s ‘50 libraries in 50 years’ project program in Malatya (January 8), visit to the Palet Turkish Music Primary School in Üsküdar (January 11), introduction of TÜGVA’s Inter-High School Football Tournament GençLig 2026 (January 12), the Foundation for the Dissemination of Knowledge’s Aliya Izetbegovic commemoration event (January 14), YETEV 2nd Turkish Music Children’s Songs Composition Competition award ceremony (January 15), opening of the 4-6 age Quran Course in Ardeşen, Rize (January 16), Birlik Foundation’s 40th anniversary ceremony (January 18), interview with Qatar-based Atheer (January 22), meeting with youth at the Güngören Municipality’s ‘One question, one answer’ program (January 29), opening of the OMNEX 2026 Fair in Oman (February 3), ‘Youth Leadership Training Program’ held in Antalya (February 4), AKP’s ‘Library Conversations’ program (February 5), screening of the Özdemir Bayraktar documentary (February 7), dinner with King Abdullah II of Jordan (February 7).”

Moreover, Bilal Erdoğan is no longer just giving routine speeches; he is putting forward views that attract more attention and even spark controversy. He expresses “original” ideas such as, “We have a very serious need for the rise of a new intellectual class that is local and national,” “We must strengthen the judgment in this society that ‘a religious person is a good person’ again,” and “If it is hard to make a living in Istanbul, it is also hard to make a living in New York.”

Bilal Erdoğan speaks and attends events this much, but he avoids answering critical questions by holding press conferences open to all journalists. In that case, the news cannot go beyond introducing the visible and displayed face of Bilal Erdoğan to the public; it creates the perception that a campaign is being conducted.

Journalism acting as a shield for the boss

While reporting on the documents regarding the abuse of underage girls and the prostitution network in the file of US billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, information was withheld by not mentioning the clues about children being kidnapped from Turkey and Epstein’s meetings to find a consultant for the Central Bank.

It was not just those allegations that the pro-government media tried to cover up. They did not report that the names of Fettah Tamince (and the Rixos Hotel he owns) and Mücahit Ören were also mentioned in these documents. Instead, they tried to find material in these documents to praise the government.

The February 1 news story in the newspaper *Türkiye* carried the headline “Fear of Turkey.” Of course, this report did not mention that correspondence between the newspaper and TGRT Haber owner Mücahit Ören and Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell had emerged in the documents.

According to that correspondence, Mücahit Ören asks Maxwell for help to introduce him to someone; upon receiving a positive response, he says in his next email, “Thank you very much. Also, I should learn more from you to be 'naughtier'.”

When his correspondence with Maxwell was published in the opposition media and on social media, Mücahit Ören made a brief statement. In summary, he said, “Anyone who knows English understands the purpose for which that email was written,” and emphasized that he had “nothing to do with that disgusting man.”

Even Mücahit Ören’s statement was not published in *Türkiye* or TGRT. However, this development had caught the attention of CHP Chairman Özgür Özel. In his speech at the meeting in Kahramanmaraş, he touched upon this issue and said, “They make us build a plane that doesn't exist all summer, they make us slander, they violate the rights of the public... Now they have entered the Epstein documents, they are tearing themselves apart.”

As expected, the pro-government media, as well as *Türkiye* and TGRT, ignored Özgür Özel’s words. It was only mentioned in passing in one or two places like *Hürriyet*.

But clearly, Mücahit Ören was very angry at Özgür Özel. Two days later, they responded with headlines and columns. Under the headline “What is the difference from Epstein?”, they had written a revenge text by mixing up, generalizing, and stigmatizing many events, right or wrong, directed at the CHP. They did not stop there; the newspaper’s General Publication Coordinator Yücel Koç asked the CHP, “Are you the Turkey leg of the Epstein filth?”

In addition, Cem Küçük wrote, “Not a peep from Özgür Özel,” and Akif Bülbül wrote, “Özel must first liberate himself.” The newspaper was entirely in the mood of “How dare you speak against our boss?”

If journalists are acting as shields for their bosses and embarking on revenge operations to please them, it is absurd to talk about professional journalistic ethics there. In journalism, the interest of the boss cannot be held above the public interest; journalists cannot act as spokespeople for the boss.

I hope our media will also set up an “Epstein desk” and examine these documents from Turkey’s perspective...

The unfair generalization of the investigative writer

According to *Yeni Şafak* writer İhsan Aktaş, all celebrities and artists are devoid of morality and are having fun at drug parties! Aktaş, who is also the manager of a research company, was able to produce generalizations far from objectivity in his article:

“Another destructive area is the world of celebrities. A segment that would not exceed one hundred thousand people if you added them up lives a life disconnected from society. Drugs, pleasure parties, excess, and irresponsibility are presented as role models through screens.

A perception is created as if it is legitimate to live a life devoid of morality and virtue when one is an artist. This squalor is called modernity.”

Unfortunately, this approach did not emerge out of nowhere, nor is it unique to İhsan Aktaş. This labeling is the first and primary result of the drug operations against celebrities conducted in Istanbul. Since Mehmet Akif Ersoy was taken into custody on December 11, the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has been violating the confidentiality of the investigations; it is exposing the celebrities taken into custody almost every day.

They not only announce their names but also serve their images. News stories that portray people as guilty are written based on those statements and leaked information. All those taken into custody are branded as immoral and drug addicts.

And this is the result. A writer like İhsan Aktaş from the pro-government media makes generalizations based on those news reports; by saying “celebrities,” he labels artists, intellectuals, and journalists. And while making unfair generalizations, he again uses journalism as a tool.

Sabah must confess those violations

*Sabah* reported the news with the headline “Nuri Gökhan Bozkır, the only detained suspect in the Hablemitoğlu assassination case, has been released,” as if it had nothing to do with it. It was an ordinary judicial report.

However, on January 28, 2022, the newspaper *Sabah* had presented this person as the “key suspect of the assassination” in its headline “The key name of the Hablemitoğlu murder spoke to Sabah.” It was emphasized that Abdurrahman Şimşek had spoken to Bozkır “just before” he was caught in Ukraine and brought to Turkey. Şimşek had also reported his story on A Haber screens.

But during the trial, it emerged that Abdurrahman Şimşek had gone to Ukraine exactly two years ago and spoken to this person. Then he published it as if it were new! Just as they distorted the truth, information also emerged that they went beyond journalism while talking to Bozkır.

Abdurrahman Şimşek, who is the News Coordinator of *Sabah*, had to admit in court, where he was called as a witness, that he had waited two years for the interview. He tried to explain his reasoning as “not violating the confidentiality of the investigation and researching what Bozkır said.”

Of course, these are not valid justifications in terms of journalism. No journalist can wait two years for an interview or time it according to MIT and prosecutor’s office operations. Clearly, there were non-journalistic purposes and activities involved. If that were not the case, he would not have waited for the interview, nor would he have written it as if it were new.

Now, the court’s release decision has also refuted the thesis in that news report that this murder had been “solved.” While reporting on Bozkır’s release decision, *Sabah* should have conveyed the information I shared above to its readers and confessed to the ethical violations. And, of course, apologized...

In a single sentence:

Only the Turkish Journalists Association and the Izmir Journalists Association remembered our journalist colleagues we lost in the Maraş and Hatay earthquakes; they published statements.

*Akşam*, *Türkiye*, *Sabah*, *Nefes*, and *Karar* newspapers did not include the words of CHP’s Murat Emir, “We did not reach a full consensus on any issue,” in their news regarding MHP Deputy Chairman Feti Yıldız’s statement, “We have agreed with all parties on the hope issue.”

*Sözcü* reported Fatih Altaylı’s article from two years ago as if it were new, with the headline “Fatih Altaylı drew attention to that name in the Narin Güran murder”; they removed the news upon Altaylı’s warning, but dozens of sites from *Yeniçağ* to Amed TV continued to publish the news.

Ministry of Justice officials, whom Barış Terkoğlu spoke to, denied the post by *Yeni Şafak*’s Burak Doğan that the homosexual “Mükremin Gezgin was sent to the men’s ward,” but despite this, *Yeni Akit* did not correct its news story, “Phenomenon Mükremin Gezgin was thrown into the men’s ward.”

On the evening Adana Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Zeydan Karalar was released, *Sözcü TV* and *Halk TV* entered a race of “Zeydan Karalar gave his first statement to us.”

The text in the newspaper *Türkiye* regarding the AKP-run Konya Metropolitan Municipality’s search and rescue teams was published in *Hürriyet* one day later with minor additions, constituting covert advertising.

The *Cumhuriyet* news story, “Özgür Özel visited the Atlas Çağlayan family,” consisted of three sentences repeated as “...paid a condolence visit to his family.”

Journalists did not ask President Erdoğan about MHP Chairman Bahçeli’s words, “Our stance is clear until Öcalan returns to hope, the Ahmets to their posts, and Demirtaş to his home,” during the meeting on the plane upon returning from Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

The two women’s photos in the news story “Gökhan Böcek and his wife’s drug test came back positive” on the local Gün Haber site in Antalya had nothing to do with the subject; they were used only to attract attention.

FOR YOUR CRITICISMS, COMPLAINTS, AND SUGGESTIONS: [email protected]