Reactionary hostility toward Atatürk knows no bounds! Photo captioned 'Israeli soldier kissing Atatürk bust' turns out to be Tuğba Özay's Republic Day post

In Turkey, the campaign of fake news and manipulation by those hostile to Atatürk shows no signs of stopping.

The silence of the Center for Combating Disinformation, established during the AKP era, regarding these posts has not gone unnoticed.

Most recently, on October 15, 2024, anti-Atatürk figures circulated a photo on social media showing a woman, alleged to be an Israeli soldier, kissing a bust of Atatürk that was claimed to be located in Israel.

The photo in question was shared with the caption: "This is Israel; an Israeli soldier respectfully kisses the memorial bust of the Great Leader Kemal Atatürk."

This post, filled with lies, received over 70 thousand views and more than 2 thousand likes.

THE PHOTO IS FROM TUĞBA ÖZAY'S REPUBLIC DAY POST...

The original version of the photo, which had an Israeli flag added via Photoshop, has been located.

It turns out that the photo in question was shared by model and actress Tuğba Özay in 2017 to celebrate Republic Day.

According to reports by Doğruluk Payı, other photos were also found on Özay's Instagram account showing her at the same location where the Atatürk bust is situated.

The caption of another photo on Tuğba Özay's Instagram account reads, "We visited the Kerpe Gendarmerie Station." When images showing the Kerpe Gendarmerie Station are researched in open sources, an image of the Kerpe Gendarmerie Station shared on the Star newspaper's website in 2020 was found.

When the Atatürk bust in that image is compared with Tuğba Özay's post, it is understood that the bust in both photos is the same.

News Source: 12punto