A political message from a TikTok edit: a call for responsibility from the Turkish media
The circulation by some Turkish media outlets and social media accounts of a video featuring footage of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev overlaid with a recording of his long-ago address raises serious bewilderment.
Material from an unofficial account is being presented as a personal post by the head of state, after which people begin searching in it for a message to Türkiye. Such an approach is incompatible with the most basic rules of verifying information.
Let us begin with a simple fact: President Ilham Aliyev does not have an official TikTok account.
Oxu.Az has already drawn its readers' attention to this. Consequently, there are no grounds for calling the clip posted on this platform "a post by the President of Azerbaijan."
Nevertheless, such publications as Milli Gazete and Sonsöz presented the video as material from Ilham Aliyev's "official TikTok account." Thus, a reference to a nonexistent official account ended up in news publications. On social media they went even further, discussing whether the clip was a message to Türkiye.
Meanwhile, the source, date, and context of the words spoken are known.
The statements used in the clip are contained in President Ilham Aliyev's address to the people of November 10, 2020. The head of state spoke about Azerbaijan's victory in the Patriotic War, Armenia's defeat, and the trilateral statement. The warning about the consequences of attempts to test the patience of the Azerbaijani people was voiced precisely in that context. The full text of the address is available on the official website of the President. To present these words as a new statement addressed to today's Türkiye means distorting their historical meaning.
No special investigation was required for verification. It was enough to ascertain the status of the account and to find the primary source of the address.
Today any user can create a page on a social network, upload footage featuring the President, overlay audio from another speech, and add an arbitrary caption. A new date on the screen does not make an old speech a new statement. A large number of views does not turn an edited video into an official address. The President's name in the page title and his photograph in the profile do not give the account's owner the right to speak on behalf of the head of state.
When a professional media outlet repeats the mistake of an ordinary user, unreliable information gains an additional audience and the status of news. That is why the responsibility of editorial offices, journalists, and the owners of popular accounts is significantly higher.
Oxu.Az considers irresponsible the approach demonstrated in this case by some Turkish media resources. Disseminating unverified material about the President of Azerbaijan and then building arguments about interstate relations on its basis is unacceptable. Accuracy and balance are especially necessary from those who cover relations between Azerbaijan and Türkiye.
Before asserting that the President has sent a message to any country, one must make sure that it really comes from the President.
Links to the head of state's official accounts on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and X are posted on the website president.az. Sources of reliable information are open and accessible to everyone.
We call on our Turkish colleagues and social media users with large audiences to treat such materials responsibly. From the editorial offices that spread inaccurate information, we expect corrections to the publications and a clear explanation for readers.
Respect for the audience begins with fact-checking. Turning a six-year-old speech into a pretext for today's confrontation is an unacceptable approach for professional journalism.
