Response from Faruk Bildirici: Ahmet Hakan admits to 'ordered' questions on the plane

Media Ombudsman Faruk Bildirici brought a detail to the agenda that occurred upon the return of AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan from his US visit. Bildirici had previously stated that the list of questions to be asked by journalists reached him while the plane was preparing for takeoff. Stating, "I hope the Directorate of Communications or the Presidency has an explanation regarding this matter," Bildirici had reacted harshly to the situation.

AHMET HAKAN'S EXPLANATION OF THE 'METHOD'

Ahmet Hakan, Editor-in-Chief of the pro-government Hürriyet Newspaper, explained how the process works in his column, stating, "The method is as follows: The Directorate of Communications asks the journalists, 'What questions will you ask?' The purpose of this is clear: to avoid duplicate questions, to ensure questions are not all on the same topic, and to diversify the questions."

BİLDİRİCİ: "QUESTIONS ARE APPROVED IN ADVANCE"

Commenting on this statement by Ahmet Hakan, Bildirici argued that the situation confirms that the questions are prepared and approved in advance. Bildirici said that the "approved" questions are turned into a list, and Erdoğan reads the cards placed in front of him to provide answers. He also stated that the transcription of the interview is done by the Directorate of Communications. Bildirici continued his criticism with the words, "This is the 'method' that Ahmet Hakan was forced to admit while trying to continue his fairy tale of 'shame,' 'lies,' and 'nonsense.'"

"JOURNALISTIC SHAME" POLEMIC

Responding to the criticisms directed at him by Ahmet Hakan, Bildirici said, "I ask on my own behalf, what journalistic shame have I committed? Explain it so the public can see. What a great absurdity it is for Ahmet Hakan, who displays a new journalistic shame almost every day, to talk about shame."

Veee nihayet! Ahmet Hakan allayıp pulladı ama sonunda "gazetecilik ayıbını" itiraf etmek zorunda kaldı! Bugün Hürriyet'te aynen şöyle yazıyor:
"Yöntem şu: İletişim Başkanlığı, gazetecilere 'Hangi soruları soracaksınız' diye soruyor. ..iletiyoruz İletişim Başkanlığı'na.… https://t.co/RJ8pua1CQz pic.twitter.com/rnIHobfHDa

— Faruk Bildirici (@farukbildirici) September 28, 2025

Faruk Bildirici noted the following on his social media account:

And finally! Ahmet Hakan dressed it up, but in the end, he was forced to confess to a "journalistic shame"! It says exactly this in Hürriyet today:

"The method is as follows: The Directorate of Communications asks the journalists, 'What questions will you ask?' ...we convey them to the Directorate of Communications. The Directorate of Communications then creates a sequence without ever interfering with the questions."

Well, I had already written that "the questions to be asked to Erdoğan on the plane upon his return from the US trip were provided in advance." I had also revealed the list of questions that journalists would ask Erdoğan before the plane even took off on the return from the US trip.

Ahmet Hakan has also confirmed that "journalists provide the questions in advance!" But here is what Ahmet Hakan still does not explicitly say;

1- Upon the return of Erdoğan's foreign trips, journalists provide the questions to the Directorate of Communications hours in advance. They then APPROVE which questions will be asked and which will not.

2- The approved questions are turned into a list and distributed to the journalists before the Presidential plane takes off. They READ the approved, edited questions to Erdoğan on the plane in that order.

3- Because the questions are determined in advance, cards containing the answers to the questions are placed in front of Erdoğan on the plane. He pretends to answer the journalists' questions by reading those cards.

4- The conversation on the plane is not transcribed by the journalists, but by the Directorate of Communications; hours after the plane lands, the corrected, cleaned, and approved text is distributed to the journalists. The journalists then report that text as news.

This is the "method" that Ahmet Hakan was forced to admit while trying to continue his fairy tale of "shame," "lies," and "nonsense."

In the end, the "extraordinarily reputable journalists" on the Presidential plane, including Ahmet Hakan, pretended to ask Erdoğan the questions on that list handed to them upon returning from the US. While there were dozens of questions that should have been asked about the meeting with Trump, they could not ask them!

What happened is that clear... This is the real journalistic shame! This "method" on the Presidential plane is not a press conference; at best, it is a "press conference mise-en-scène."

A journalist, whoever they are facing, does not provide their questions in advance to get approval, nor do they ask approved questions. A journalist does not allow their source to transcribe the press conference; they write their own text as news.

Ahmet Hakan also mentioned "journalistic shames of past periods." I ask on my own behalf, what journalistic shame have I committed?

Explain it so the public can see. What a great absurdity it is for Ahmet Hakan, who displays a new journalistic shame almost every day, to talk about shame...

The one talking about "journalistic shame" is a personality who defends the "press conference mise-en-scène" on the plane on behalf of the Directorate of Communications while they remain silent, and who is in a rush to respond to me!

After all, let the "OWNER" of the method defend it...

News Source: 12punto