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While the debate on the election date continues, the verification organization, which works to prevent the spread of false information, announced that it would carry out a particular study for the election period. The accuracy of the statements made by politicians in television broadcasts, social media, or rallies will be examined within the scope of the study.

*** This release is originally published in Turkish.

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TURKEY - Although an official timetable for the general elections in Turkey has yet to be announced, discussions regarding the election date have increased in recent weeks. Verification organization Teyit, which operates as a signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) Guidelines of Principles, began to examine the allegations made by politicians at rallies, on television, and on social media during the election period.

Sharing his evaluations, Confirmation Editor Emircan Saç said, “Politicians can use misleading information during election periods. As the 2023 elections are approaching, we have started our 'Statement Control' work to prevent the spread of false, distorted, or decontextualized information and contribute to an accountable election process.”

The methodology was created with the contribution of 31 experts

Within the scope of the study, a different methodology was created to examine the statements of politicians. In this process, the opinions of 31 experts working in elections, public opinion polls, voter preferences, discourse analysis, media, journalism, and affirmation in 27 different institutions from Turkey and abroad were consulted.

In light of the methodology prepared with the participation of experts, Teyit announced that it would follow the statements of political party leaders, party spokespersons, and active politicians who have an impact on the agenda and have more than 2 million followers on Twitter. While examining politicians' statements, the verification organization Teyit focuses on conveying the context by emphasizing the misleading aspect of the information, not simply qualifying it as 'true' or ‘false.' It categorizes the information made by politicians into statements such as distorting, taking it out of context, unsupported/baseless, true but…, fabrication, exaggeration, and tweezing.

Users will be able to warn politicians who share misleading information

Users will also be able to participate in the Statement Check study, which Teyit provides on its website with an understandable interface throughout the election period. Users visiting Teyit.org will be able to warn politicians who share misleading information and share the analysis on their social media accounts.

Teyit, Turkey's leading verification organization, in its first politician statement reviews, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, AK Party Deputy Chairman Ali İhsan Yavuz, CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, CHP Spokesperson Faik Öztrak, Turkish Workers Party (TİP) Spokesperson Sera Kadıgil, Industry, and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank, CHP Group Deputy Chairman Engin Altay and Turkey Workers' Party (TİP) Deputy Barış Atay included the statements of names.

“Our work will call active politicians to account”

Reminding that their organizational and editorial processes are based on impartiality, independence, and transparency, Teyit Editor Emircan Saç concluded his evaluations with the following statements: "With our six years of experience in confirming and the experience we have gained from previous elections, we aim to include the statements of politicians in the range of questionable information we examine, so that the voters take the right information as a reference. Thus, we aim to make politicians more transparent in the information they convey to the voters and accountable for the misleading information they share. This function of our work, which calls active politicians to account, will fill an important gap.”