A TV presenter working for the staunchly pro-government A Haber television station has expressed regret that it was Turkish military officers rather than American soldiers in a helicopter that crashed in İstanbul on Monday evening.
Salih Nayman was speaking as the TV station was broadcasting video footage moments before the helicopter, belonging to the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), crashed in a residential neighborhood.
“If only we didn’t have to share this video footage with you. If only this footage was of American soldiers. But unfortunately they were our soldiers,” said Nayman.
Films and TV series often show Americans conspiring against Turkey as part of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s systematic and deliberate campaign of fueling hostility towards Turkey’s Western allies. His propaganda machinery amplifies this hateful narrative, and the mass media under Erdoğan’s control spreads it further to a wider audience.
