-PRESS RELEASE – REGARDING THE FAKE NEWS IN THE TURKISH NEWSPAPER “SABAH” ABOUT HALİS TUNÇ
HALİS TUNÇ, Ex-Turkish Naval Attaché in Greece
I was a Navy Captain in the Turkish Navy and has been unlawfully discharged from my beloved profession after 25 years of service due to the politically motivated, unfounded accusations. S. Fennema, who is a reporter in the NOS TV Channel in the Netherlands, requested for an interview on the EEVANDAAG News Program on November 15, 2019. My interview has been published at the official website of the Channel both in Dutch and Turkish.
Although my remarks were clear, on 20th November, Turkey’s widely circulated newspaper SABAH deliberately twisted my words, written down some unvoiced sentences and tried to defame me and attempted to make me a target of public outrage.
For instance, my statement that ” Certainly, Turkey shouldn’t leave NATO” –which was clearly my central point in the interview- was written down as “the ‘traitor’ called upon NATO for pressuring Turkey, and if the pressures do not bear results, expelling Turkey”. On the other hand, SABAH totally ignored the statements of Doğu Perinçek, who is president of the Vatan Party in Turkey, as “after the 15th of July, the cancerous tissue of NATO has been scraped from the Turkish military. Turkey has been pulled off from NATO and got closer to the East. 30.000 NATO soldiers have been purged”. Although these remarks of Perincek were referred in the video published by EEVANDAAG News Programme regarding my interview, SABAH’s report “interestingly” did not mention them.
Trying to ruthlessly slander me as a traitor, SABAH also fabricated accusations of selling out Turkey’s plans on the sea to Greece. First of all, “Turkey’s plans on the sea” is a totally absurd terminology which cannot stand for any meaningful content or governmental information. Secondly, Turkey’s Embassy in Athens, where I used to work, did not possess any secret plans about Turkey’s naval policies, and I did not utter even a single word to the Greek authorities against my country. It is obvious that these lies aim to serve to the purpose of discrediting my reputation and making me a public target, through exploiting the sensitivities of the Turkish public. I return these fabricated lies to their owners.
SABAH used the terms “terrorist and traitor” for me. There is no legal conviction about me and these terms which are not based on court decisions or any credible evidence only shows that SABAH violates all the ethical rules of journalism and is not more than a mouthpiece of the government. I strongly urge them to stop violating basic human rights by fake news that they constantly produce.
As a conclusion, SABAH with this fabricated news has only confirmed my claim that “Turkish people are living in a parallel universe” created by the government-controlled media. The right of Turkish people to reach true information has been precluded. There has been left no separation of powers or the checks and balances in Turkey. As is well known, free media is essential for the proper functioning of democracy. I hope that SABAH starts to act as a free media and complies with its responsibilities for providing the public with true information. As a Turkish citizen, it is my wish for the reestablishment of democracy in Turkey.
I would like to notify the public that I will initiate legal action against the newspaper SABAH and any other media outlet which cites the aforementioned parts of SABAH’s report.
I declare to the Dutch and Turkish public with respect.
HALİS TUNÇ
LINKS OF THE NEWS:
EenVandaag News in Dutch: https://eenvandaag.avrotros.nl/item/de-turkse-ex-kolonel-halis-tunc-zag-op-televisie-dat-hij-verrader-en-terrorist-zou-zijn/
EenVandaag News in Turkish: https://eenvandaag.avrotros.nl/item/eski-albay-halis-tunc-televizyonda-kendisinden-hain-ve-teroerist-olarak-bahsedildigini-goerdue/
SABAH News: https://www.sabah.com.tr/dunya/2019/11/20/hain-atase-hollandada-ortaya-cikti
