The large majority (89%) of opinion articles published in two of Turkey’s main media outlets take either a positive or neutral stance toward Hamas, according to a new study by the Jewish People Policy Institute, leaving experts concerned over Ankara’s future role in the Gaza Strip.
Despite Israeli leadership repeatedly issuing public statements opposing Turkish involvement in US President Donald Trump’s peace plan, Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister Hakan Fidan joined the effort.
Analyzing approximately 15,000 opinion columns in the widely read newspapers Sabah and Hürriyet, JPPI found that descriptions of Hamas often rely on the “resistance movement” narrative, which describes the terrorists as “martyrs” for the Palestinian cause.
In some cases, despite evidence proving the statements are unfounded, writers in the newspapers have gone so far as to claim that Hamas treated the hostages “kindly.”
In total, around 49% of the columns expressed a positive attitude toward Hamas, while approximately 40% took a neutral position.
Turkish journalist says former hostages weren't tortured by Hamas
Hilal Kaplan, in an article published by Sabah, claimed Palestinian prisoners released on day 471 following a ceasefire agreement were “tortured” during Israeli detention
“There was not the slightest indication that the Israelis released by the Palestinian resistance had been tortured. They all looked exactly the same physically as they did on October 6, 2023, more than a year later,” the Turkish journalist wrote.
Despite her claims, Emily Damari, who was released on day 471 of the ceasefire, was returned in notably different condition than when she was abducted. The British-Israeli national lost two of her fingers as a result of Hamas’s brutality.
In a Hürriyet article written by Abdulkadir Selvi, assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was described as a “martyr” and “a holy martyr not only of Palestine but of Islam as a whole,” and as someone who “fought for peace.” Netanyahu, in contrast, was described as “the new Hitler.”
Elli Kannai, a research fellow for JPPI, told The Jerusalem Post, “After analyzing 15,000 articles, we have data, and we know that the Turkish attitude towards our conflict is hostile. Their stance towards Hamas is not in line with what Israel expects from the second stage of the Gaza agreement, and it is difficult to expect a constructive contribution from the Turkish president, having analyzed all these articles.”
Noting that “The removal of Hamas is a central part of the second stage,” Kannai questioned, “if [Turkey] are so supportive - why would [Turkey] help the removal of Hamas?”
Additionally, despite the murder of 1200 people in southern Israel on October 7 and the use of sexual violence, JPPI noted that the majority of articles in the two newspapers took a neutral stance toward the massacre.
There was almost no unequivocal condemnation of the brutality, JPPI found, and no direct mention of Hamas targeting Israeli civilians.
In more than a quarter of the columns, JPPI found writers either had a very positive or positive attitude toward October 7, while the majority (57%) were apathetic. Only 9% of the articles indicated a negative attitude toward the attacks.
Sabah, more so than Hürriyet, published articles celebrating the killings. In one article, published only a day after the attack, an article was published expressing admiration for the “resistance fighters” who carried out a “mythic” attack against the “Zionist occupying regime.”
Extending beyond the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the analysis found that around 40% of opinion columns mentioning either Jews or Judaism contained antisemitic characteristics by the standards of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.
Some articles attributed global power to “Jewish capital,” while others sought to compare Zionism to Nazism and described Jews as a group immune from international criticism.
In one article published by the Hürriyet, two weeks after October 7, Turkish journalist Nedim Şener claimed that global Jewish capital and Jewish control of the media and international institutions succeeded in bringing the United States and Europe “to their knees” in order to allow Israel to carry out genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
Turkish journalist Melih Altınok, in an article published by Sabah, criticized the “Holocaust narrative.”
Prof. Yedidia Stern, President of JPPI, said, “The findings of this study speak for themselves, and they are deeply troubling. At the same time, it is clear that the relationship with Turkey is broader and also based on economic interests in energy and trade. At the same time, some Turkish media outlets are not so closely aligned with Erdoğan’s regime. Israeli decision-makers must look at reality soberly and as it is, and not ignore these facts. We must not normalize incitement and antisemitism anywhere in the world – certainly not when it comes from countries with which Israel maintains diplomatic relations.”