Turkey’s leading media generally downplayed the historic meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The ambivalent attitude was reflected in both English language versions of Turkey’s leading media, and in the Turkish coverage on Wednesday morning in Turkey.
Only Anadolu, one of the major media in Turkey which is also state-run, gave the Netanyahu meeting major coverage on its home page. Other Turkish outlets appeared to either ignore the meeting, highlight other Erdogan meetings in New York, or reference the meeting in passing.
According to the Anadolu report in English, “during the meeting, international and regional issues, political and economic relations between the two countries as well as the latest developments regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were discussed,” the Presidency’s Directorate of Communications said on X (formerly Twitter).
The report said that Turkey and Israel discussed areas of possible collaboration including “the fields of energy, technology, innovation, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity and that they should strive together for a world where peace prevails.”
It also listed the Turkish delegation members present at the meeting: Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar, AK Party Spokesperson Omer Celik, Director of the National Intelligence Agency Ibrahim Kalin, Director of Communications Fahrettin Altun and Chief Advisor on Foreign Policy and Security to the President Akif Cagatay Kilic.
In the media’s Turkish language report, it sought to highlight that the “Israel-Palestine conflict was discussed at the meeting.”
Different messages for different audiences
It also sought to highlight that Erdogan “received” Netanyahu. The language in the English report did not highlight this aspect of the meeting, which in Turkish appears to make it seem that Netanyahu went to Erdogan, rather than vice-versa. In the Arabic version of Anadolu, they didn’t highlight the meeting at all, clearly showing how Ankara seeks to portray itself differently to different audiences.
Daily Sabah, another large outlet in Turkey, didn’t highlight the meeting, but did highlight US support for a “2-state solution for Palestinians, Israelis.”
Yeni Safak, a right-leaning populist daily, also didn’t appear to mention the meeting. Turkish media tended to concentrate instead on Azerbaijan’s operations against Armenians in Nagorna-Karabakh. Hurriyet, another Turkish daily, didn’t appear to mention the Netanyahu sit-down, but did mention Erdogan’s meeting with the Italian Prime Minister.
HaberTurk, another Turkish media outlet, did mention the meeting and called it a “critical meeting.” The rest of their report appeared to be taken from the Anadolu report.
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