The Turkish Ministry of National Defense has been recycling old footage to promote its new operation against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, Ruptly Verification Unit revealed in a Twitter thread on June 15
The operation, dubbed “Claw-Eagle,” took place on June 15. Turkish warplanes and combat drones targeted a number of PKK positions in the Kurdistan Region.
Ruptly revealed that the Ministry of National Defense edited old combat footage and CG videos, and then used them to promote the operation in northern Iraq.
One of the many examples is the use of old promotion videos of Turkish drones. The video was originally published by Ismail Demir, President of Defence Industries, on May 8. The Turkish military reedited the footage, adding a green filter, and released them as an official video from Operation Claw-Eagle.
The video is a compilation of doctored footage and archive material, filmed in contexts unrelated to Operation #ClawEagle.
The first section of footage we examined is this sequence, which can be seen from 00:23-00:29 in the Ministry of National Defence’s video. pic.twitter.com/PsyBgVxFMJ
— Ruptly VU (@RuptlyVU) June 15, 2020
In the footage published by Turkey’s Ministry of National Defence, a green filter appears to have been added to the footage to give it the appearance of authentic nighttime footage. pic.twitter.com/pOVVSyFpoq
— Ruptly VU (@RuptlyVU) June 15, 2020
In another example, old footage of Turkish F-16 warplanes taking off from 2018 were reused by the Turkish military for the new operation.
This video clip frequently circulates on Turkish-language social media, with different contexts assigned to it each time it resurfaces.
The clip was shared as recently as February 29, 2020, with claims that it shows Turkish F-16s in the skies over Syria.https://t.co/V9FSQhxfxW pic.twitter.com/rDPDjApGwl
— Ruptly VU (@RuptlyVU) June 15, 2020
And before that, it appeared on Twitter on April 1, 2018, alleging to depict another operation against the PKK in northern Iraq.https://t.co/ZGqkB2oyFS pic.twitter.com/3RGvir62pA
— Ruptly VU (@RuptlyVU) June 15, 2020
Last week, SouthFront revealed that the Turkish military is reusing old footage to promote its defensive operations not only in northern Iraq, but also in northeast Syria.
The Turkish Ministry of National Defense came under fire several times recently for publishing inaccurate information. The ministry was even accused of fabricating videos on a few occasions.
