Presidency's Head of Communications, Burhanettin Duran, in his speech at the "Gaza: The Litmus Test of Humanity Panel" organised at the Presidency's Directorate of Communications, stated, "We are not alone in the conscience movement we are leading; the entire world is joining this rightful reaction, and the international community is putting pressure on their leaders."
Head of Communications Duran, who made the opening speech of the panel, said that Israel has pursued its oppression and occupation in Palestinian lands for decades, trampling international law, conventions, and humanitarian values, and carrying out an all-out massacre.
Head of Communications Duran stated that Gaza, where Israel has destroyed schools, hospitals, and holy sites, has been reduced to rubble, saying, "Since October 7, 2023, Netanyahu and his murderous network have killed more than 64 thousand Palestinians, injured 150,000, and displaced nearly 2 million. It has repeatedly opened fire on innocent people at aid distribution points and has used starvation as a tool of genocide."
Emphasising that Israel has turned the swaddles of Palestinian babies into shrouds and that this course of events has deeply wounded all humanity, Head of Communications Duran said, "There is no realm in which Israel has not tested the conscience of humanity with its genocidal practices and tyranny. Moreover, through violations of sovereignty and attacks on neighbouring countries, it has openly revealed its aim of widening and deepening the crisis. After Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, Tunisia, and Iran last week, Israel also attacked Qatar, targeting the Hamas delegation present in Doha for negotiations. In the face of this structure that has turned terror into a state policy and poses a threat to the entire world, the international community must now take action."
"The world is now confronted with the problem of Israel"
Head of Communications Duran stated that the world is now confronted with the problem of Israel, saying, "Israel has turned into a destructive regime that tramples ruthlessly over international law, thrives on chaos rather than order, and has become the very epicenter of turmoil, disorder, and instability in our region."
Noting that, under the leadership of our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, our country has, from the very outset, stood firmly behind Palestine, Gaza, justice, and truth, activating all mechanisms at its disposal, Head of Communications Duran stated:
"As in the past, our foremost priorities today include a lasting ceasefire in Gaza, the immediate delivery of humanitarian aid and the establishment of an independent State of Palestine, on the basis of the 1967 borders, with East Al-Quds as its capital and with territorial integrity. Our President has consistently placed Gaza at the centre of attention, first and foremost in the United Nations General Assembly, and likewise in bilateral engagements and international telephone diplomacy. Last Monday, the ‘Extraordinary Summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League’ was convened in Doha at the invitation of Qatar and with the support of Türkiye. In his address at this Summit as well, our President conveyed the message that ‘We must intensify our diplomatic efforts to increase sanctions against Israel.’ In fact, that was the strongest message given there."
"Intensive diplomatic efforts are carried out"
Head of Communications Duran stated that Türkiye was carrying out intensive diplomatic efforts, as well as exerting utmost efforts in the field of humanitarian assistance. Duran continued as follows:
Our state institutions and civil society organisations, such as AFAD (Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency), the Turkish Red Crescent, and the Türkiye Diyanet Foundation, have mobilised to provide relief to the Palestinians despite all obstacles and challenges on the ground. In this genocide that has been ongoing for almost 2 years, Türkiye has delivered more than 100 thousand tonnes of humanitarian aid to Gaza. Türkiye’s assistance, including its support to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), has exceeded 40 million dollars. It is with regret that I must state that significant impediments still hinder the delivery of humanitarian aid to those in need in Gaza. Israel persists in its barbaric stance, aimed at paralysing humanitarian aid mechanisms. It is now an unavoidable responsibility for the international community to establish a consistent and effective humanitarian aid regime.
"If it is about Gaza, this is no longer a mere pain—it is an agony"
Presidency's Head of Communications Duran stated that, in coordination with the intensive efforts of our country, the Directorate of Communications continued to strive to support Palestine's struggle on the communication front and to amplify its rightful voice, and added, "Allow me to highlight this clearly: The heart’s true perception is its very sense of pain. And this, indeed, is what will awaken the global conscience. If it is about Gaza, if it is about Al-Quds, this is no longer a mere pain—it is an agony, a torment of the heart. We are clearly presenting the tyranny of Israel and the injustice suffered by Palestine—in short, the oppressor and the oppressed."
Reiterating that the conscience of the world is greater than Israel, Head of Communications Duran said, "Thankfully, there is a very justified reaction that is growing in the international community. There is a strong reaction calling for an end to Israel’s genocide. In this sense, Israel has already been condemned in the global conscience. We are making a note of this in history. As media, as communication structures, we are making a note in history. I believe that this note will surely stand as one of the greatest contributions to proving Israel’s genocidal crimes in the future."
Head of Communications Duran stated that Israel would never be able to evade accountability for the crime of genocide and that they would strive to keep Gaza on the world’s agenda with all tools and methods of communication, across all platforms, and in every form of content.
"Turkish media has successfully passed the test on Palestine"
While exposing more than 250 cases of disinformation by genocidal Israel, we laid bare the hypocritical attitudes of the global media, Head of Communications Duran said, and added:
"While publishing “special issues on Palestine” in our journals, while hosting extraordinary meetings, while organising symposia, exhibitions and press tours, and while conducting programmes across the world, we are well aware that we are leading a movement of conscience. We are not alone in this endeavour. In many countries, from Spain to many other corners of the world, the entire world is joining this justified reaction, and the international community is putting pressure on their states and leaders. Today’s panel is one of the concrete outcomes of these efforts. As the Directorate of Communications, TRT, Anadolu Agency, and the entire Turkish media, we have successfully passed the test on Palestine. Despite being subjected to violence and obstructions in the field, our country's press teams have not refrained from bringing the genocide in Gaza to the attention of humanity. The TRT News camera was broken in Gaza as a result of Israel’s brutality."
Referring to President Erdoğan's statement, "Even though Israeli forces broke the cameras of our journalists that were tuned to truth, they could not prevent the truths from coming to light," Head of Communications Duran said that the whole world agrees with this justified reaction, and the international community is putting pressure on states and leaders.
"TRT News has broadcast more than 20,000 news items on Gaza, while TRT World has dedicated more than half of its entire broadcasting content to Palestine and Gaza. While international digital platforms have censored productions on Palestine, Türkiye's international platform, Tabii, launched a dedicated section entitled “Stories of Palestinians.” Anadolu Agency has also broadcast approximately 144,000 news items from the region in 13 languages. In addition to the books “Witness” and “Evidence”, nearly 200,000 photographs and close to 15,000 videos have been presented not only to the conscience of the public but also submitted as evidence before international courts. Furthermore, the Directorate of Communications has finalised a book documenting the journalists systematically killed by Israel in Gaza. This book reveals how Israel, in a deliberate and intentional manner, killed nearly 300 members of the press, whose only aim was to report to the world the realities in the region, in an effort to silence the truth and suppress the photographs and footage they captured. These examples alone suffice to demonstrate that Turkish media have served as a spearhead in bringing to the world’s attention the genocide being perpetrated in Gaza.
"Israel does not hesitate to resort to asymmetric methods"
Head of Communications Duran noted that while Turkish media exhibited such sensitivity towards Gaza, regrettably, the same cannot be said for the global media. Head of Communications Duran emphasised that the Western-based outlets pursue unethical, biased, and deliberate journalistic practices that shift depending on the region, and added, "The bombs Israel drops on Gaza are accompanied, both in conventional and digital media spheres, by lies, information blackouts, and disinformation campaigns. Therefore, Israel, which seeks to maintain control over the dominant narrative, has not hesitated to resort to asymmetric methods in this field."
Underlining that it is possible to speak of the presence of a digital dictatorship of algorithms today, Head of Communications Duran said, "The power that largely controls media tools and the digital sphere analyses unlawfully collected data and steers individuals towards the content they have engineered. Thus, social perception is being shaped, while at the same time, the undeniable fact that "Israel is a war criminal" is obscured by algorithmic censorship."
"We consider the global media sphere as a front in the struggle for truth"
Stating that the struggle between oppressor and oppressed is, in part, also being waged on media platforms, Head of Communication Duran continued:
We consider the global media sphere as a front in the struggle for truth, and we are further strengthening our communication and media ecosystem accordingly. As this clash of narratives continues in the global media sphere, the voices of communities of conscience are rising ever louder. This is indeed a most gratifying development. People around the world are protesting today against Israel's unimaginable oppression of the Palestinian people. Millions of people of conscience are waving Palestinian flags in the squares of their cities. Civil initiatives are striving to break the blockade of Gaza. Concerts, sporting events and cultural activities, attended by thousands, suddenly turn into platforms where Israel is strongly condemned. Politicians who lend direct or indirect support to the genocidal Israeli regime are forced to confront the moral reactions of their citizens. Fortunately, we, as the Turkish nation, stand united in defending the cause of Palestine under the leadership of Our President. Even if there are different views on this issue, all segments of society, both in government and opposition, stand in the same place and support the just cause of Palestine."
"This blessed city has borne witness to the greatest downfall of all those arrogant and ambitious figures"
Head of Communications Duran underlined that throughout history, Jerusalem has bowed neither to Crusader occupiers nor to imperialist powers, stating, “Whoever has seized this city by force, oppressed its people, and attacked its mosques and churches has, in the long history of Jerusalem, become a cursed footnote.” This blessed city has borne witness to the greatest downfall of all those arrogant and ambitious figures who claimed, ‘It belongs to me alone.’ Under the leadership of our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Türkiye will never regard this oppression as legitimate, will never normalise it, and will support every initiative undertaken to bring about accountability in the near future.
Indicating that Türkiye has set forth its clear stance on Gaza, which is the litmus test of humanity, Head of Communications Burhanettin Duran said, "We are calling upon the international community to take action to put an 'end' to what is happening in Gaza."
At the panel titled “Gaza: The Litmus Test of Humanity”, organised by the Directorate of Communications, participants discussed the media coverage of the genocide in Gaza and the international reactions against Israel.
The panel, moderated by TRT World’s Middle East correspondent Nizar Sadawi, featured Yusuf Özhan, Deputy Director-General and Editor-in-Chief of Anadolu Agency (AA); Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh, politician and lawyer; Paul Williams, Founder and Director of the “Blogging Theology” platform; and Paula Gil Leyva, President of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Spain.
