Anadolu Agency’s anti-disinformation campaign hailed

By Kagan Burak Ozkaya

ANTALYA, Turkey (AA) - Anadolu Agency’s efforts to prevent disinformation on social media against Turkey’s anti-terror operations should be supported, a communication expert said.

“Anadolu Agency announced the legitimate struggle of Turkey to the world as it did during the Turkish War of Independence,” Mustafa Sami Mencet, professor at the communication faculty of Akdeniz University in southern resort city of Antalya, told Anadolu Agency.

“Anadolu Agency’s struggle against smear campaign must be supported,” Mencet said.

Mencet carried out an academic study on the effects of “photo verification techniques” for the prevention of digital photo manipulation.

He discussed the impact of technological advances on preventing smear campaign on social media.

The professor used in his study Anadolu Agency’s Twitter posts and website links that unmasked fake photos shared on social media during Turkey’s Operation Olive Branch.

Anadolu Agency’s work were effective in preventing manipulations of YPG terrorist organization in the mainstream European media.

As Turkey’s anti-terror operation in northern Syria neutralized as many as 702 terrorists and pushed to the point where YPG/PKK terrorists started to withdraw from the safe zone, the campaign to smear it on social media had persisted.

Since the start of Turkey's Operation Peace Spring on Oct. 9, many social media accounts shared fake images or pictures taken in past years to spread disinformation about the operation east of the Euphrates River.

Operation Peace Spring aims to eliminate terrorists from northern Syria in order to secure Turkey’s borders, aid in the safe return of Syrian refugees, and ensure Syria’s territorial integrity.

Ankara wants to clear the area in northern Syria east of the Euphrates River of the terrorist PKK and the YPG, its Syrian offshoot.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union -- has been responsible for deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.

* Writing by Zehra Nur Duz