Political message from TikTok montage: a call for accountability of Turkish media

The dissemination by certain Turkish media outlets and social media accounts of a video featuring footage of President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev with an overlaid recording of his past speech raises serious concern. Material from an unofficial account is being presented as a personal publication by the head of state, after which attempts are made to find a message to Turkey in it. Such an approach is incompatible with basic fact-checking rules.

Let us start with a simple fact: President Ilham Aliyev does not have an official TikTok account. Consequently, there are no grounds to call a video posted on that platform a "publication by the President of Azerbaijan."

Nevertheless, outlets such as Milli Gazete and Sonsöz presented the video as material from the "official TikTok account" of Ilham Aliyev. Thus, a reference to a nonexistent official account ended up in news publications. Social media users went even further, discussing whether the video was a message to Turkey.

Meanwhile, the source, date, and context of the words spoken are well known.

The statements used in the video are contained in President Ilham Aliyev's address to the nation on November 10, 2020. The head of state spoke about Azerbaijan's victory in the Patriotic War, Armenia's defeat, and the trilateral statement. The warning about the consequences of attempts to test the patience of the Azerbaijani people was made precisely in that context. The full text of the address is available on the official website of the President. Presenting these words as a new statement addressed to today's Turkey means distorting their historical meaning.

Verification did not require a special investigation. It was sufficient to determine the status of the account and find the original source of the speech.

Today, any user can create a social media page, upload footage featuring the President, overlay audio from a different speech, and add an arbitrary caption. A new date on the screen does not turn an old speech into a new statement. A large number of views does not turn an edited clip into an official address. The President's name in a page title and his photograph in the profile do not give the account owner the right to speak on behalf of the head of state.

When a mistake made by an ordinary user is repeated by a professional media outlet, unreliable information gains an additional audience and the status of news. Therefore, the responsibility of editorial offices, journalists, and owners of popular accounts is considerably greater.

Oxu.Az considers the approach demonstrated in this case by certain Turkish media resources to be irresponsible. Disseminating unverified material about the President of Azerbaijan and then building arguments about interstate relations on its basis is unacceptable. Accuracy and balance are especially expected from those who cover Azerbaijan-Turkey relations.

Before claiming that the President has sent a message to any country, it is necessary to make sure that it actually originates from the President.

Links to the official accounts of the head of state on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and X are posted on the website president.az. Sources of reliable information are open and accessible to everyone.

We urge Turkish colleagues and social media users with large audiences to handle such materials responsibly. From the editorial offices that disseminated unreliable information, we expect corrections to their publications and a clear explanation for their readers.

Respect for the audience begins with fact-checking. Turning a speech from six years ago into a pretext for today's confrontation is an unacceptable approach for professional journalism.