Fact-Check: Has Istanbul recently witnessed the Pro- Palestine protests? Here’s the Reality
Megha Bajaj 
Has Istanbul recently witnessed the Pro- Palestine protests?
An image showing thousands of protestors on streets along with the flag of Palestine has recently surfaced on social media site X(Twitter). The image has been fiercely shared by several users with captions like Pro-Palestine protests in Istanbul and People of Turkey stand with Gaza.
User Sulaiman Ahmed, who claims to be an investigative Journalist on X but has a brief history of disseminating misinformation, shared this image on X(Twitter) and wrote: ” HUGE PRO PALESTINE PROTESTS IN ISTANBUL”
Another user by the name of Sara also shared this image on X and claimed: ” Wow. Absolutely MASSIVE pro-Palestine protest in Istanbul. The people of Turkey stand with Gaza”
Furthermore, other users also shared this image on X and made similar claims.
Fact-Check
To determine the reality of the above viral image, the DFRAC team reverse-searched this image on Google. We found numerous media reports during this process.
Media reports on YouTube
We discovered media reports from Firstpost and News9live on YouTube. As per reports, Pro-Palestine protests took place in Istanbul, Turkey on the first day of the new year 2024 against Israel’s war in Gaza Strip.
Media reports from Times of India and Times of Israel
According to a media report by Times of Israel dated Jan 1, 2024, tens of thousands marched in Istanbul on New Year’s Day to protest the “murderer” Israel’s war in Gaza and the killing of Turkish soldiers by outlawed Kurdish militants in Iraq. The rally, called by a foundation that counts Bilal Erdogan, the son of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, among its members, started after crowds performed morning prayers at Istanbul’s iconic mosques, including Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque.
In addition, the report stated: ” Protesters waving Turkish and Palestinian flags rallied to the Galata Bridge on the Bosphorus chanting: “Murderer Israel, get out of Palestine” and “Allahu Akbar” (God is the greatest). Tens of thousands of people joined the rally “Mercy for our martyrs and a curse on Israel,” the official Anadolu news agency reported”.
Subsequently, another media report by Times of India also cited similar facts concerning Pro-Palestine protests in Istanbul.
Conclusion
It is evident from DFRAC’s fact-check that the recently viral image of Pro-Palestine protests in Istanbul, Turkey is misleading as the protest took two months ago, on the first day of the new year 2024, not recently.
