Here are some brief observations. I might be misled and am open to changing or modifying my comments in the next few days.
Erdoğan surprises a bit and remains calm and moderate. However, in later days, he becomes more aggressive.
I am not sure about his followers, though. Generally pro-Palestine, even pro-Hamas.
Since Erdoğan stayed neutral, the CHP leader acted pro-Palestine. As he is a constant loser, this might not be good for the Palestine cause (!)
Younger, secular, and nationalist citizens showed solidarity with Israel. For them, they oppose anything related to Jihadism. Since Hamas leads the Palestinian cause, they are against Hamas. These nationalists also had a talking line: Arabs betrayed us during the IWW, or they sold their land to Jews. They deserve what happens now. Even some famous historians, such as İlber Ortaylı supported this line. But as far as I know, it is more complicated than this.
Small but effective leftist parties, such as TİP, is going through a strange phase. Traditionally, these parties are pro-Palestine; however, in recent years, they gained many followers who are disappointed with central parties such as CHP, and these newcomers are not happy with their parties’ political stances.
Initial pro-Israel sentiments, in general, may be weakening as Palestinian civilian casualties increase.
I could not follow the pro-government media outlets much, but the critical ones may mostly be classified as pro-Palestine. I was surprised to hear from Ismail Saymaz providing substantive arguments. But let me underline he and similar personalities condemned the Hamas crimes against civilians. They were not pro-Hamas, as far as I could observe.
There is so much disinformation around. Turkish fact-checking organization started a special page for the war disinfo.
| [7.3] Misinformation spreads during Israel-Hamas conflict; false claims debunked. — The Associated Press |
| In the midst of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, misinformation has been spreading on social media, making it difficult to discern fact from fiction. False claims include the capture of a top Israeli general by Hamas, a fabricated memo from President Joe Biden announcing $8 billion in military aid to Israel, and misleading videos of Russian President Vladimir Putin warning the US to stay away from the Gaza war. The Israel Defense Forces confirmed that the claim of the general’s capture is untrue, the White House confirmed that the memo is fake, and the videos of Putin are mislabeled and unrelated to the conflict. |
Nationalist Turkish with rising anti-refugee (mostly anti-Syrian) sentiments were sharing memes like this, however, it was also tied to the claim that many Israelis came to Turkey when the war started:
— Balkan Memes (@BalkanmemesTr) October 10, 2023
Discover more from Erkan's Field Diary
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.