As the election day approaches, the press and TV of the US and Europe are increasing the number of scandalous articles and headlines against Turkiye and President Erdogan.

Recently, the US-based Foreign Policy magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Bloomberg, The Washington Post and finally the German Stern magazine target Turkiye and President Erdogan with incomplete, distorted and false news (source).

In addition, almost all media from BBC to The Economist, from Foreign Policy to Le Monde, from The Washington Post to Financial Times started "black PR" against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

For example, The Economist magazine, published in the UK, put the May 14 elections on its cover. The magazine's article entitled "The most important election of 2023" commented that the AK Party government may lose in the May 14 elections. The weekly journal of international relations and economy published an article in this issue stating that they support Kılıçdaroğlu "from the heart". The magazine used the tags "Save Democracy", "Erdogan must go" and "Vote!" on the cover. (link).

"Danger comes in many forms. For Turkey's long-time leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, it comes in the shape of a former civil servant, given to making heart emojis with his hands," begins the BBC interview with CHP presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.

"Erdogan, the other Putin" was written on the scandalous cover of the French magazine "Le Point". The magazine featured hateful sentences such as "like Putin, the ‘Islamist president’ is chasing the dream of empire and openly reveals his autocratic tendencies. On the eve of the elections, the world is waiting with bated breath."

Another French magazine "L'Express" came out with a cover titled "Erdogan, risk of chaos". In addition to the words "Europe, refugees, the Middle East...", provocative expressions such as "Turkiye: The choice of all dangers, agreement with Putin" were used on the cover.

The US Foreign Policy magazine published an analysis under the title "Turkey’s elections won’t be free or fair" saying that "only the opposition can win" and expressed its opposition to Erdogan. (reference).

Faktyoxla Lab. has investigated the reasons for the publication of anti-Erdogan articles in the press and TV of the US and Europe.

First of all, let's note that all polls conducted before the 2023 elections show that the rating of President Erdogan is rising rapidly. In such a case, the hope of the West that Erdogan will be defeated at the ballot box also dies. That is why they attacked Erdogan from all sides.

The Western media, which ignores the principle of "impartiality" in their news and slanders President Erdogan without hesitation, promote the "table of six" with the headlines "The opposition must win in Turkey" (reference).

На самом деле подобные новости, которые часто встречаются в западных СМИ, но особенно всплывают перед выборами, направлены на манипулирование социальной структурой в стране. Эксперты также 

In fact, such news, which is often found in the Western media, aims to manipulate the social structure in the country. When we carefully examine these news published in the mass media of different countries, we see that all the texts of such commentaries have something in common that is not noticeable at first glance, and they complement each other. (reference).

In fact, the best observation in this issue was made by Middle East expert Christoph Hörstel in 2018. Hörstel said that hostility towards Erdogan is a game of the cartels that dominate the world. Hörstel answered the reporter's question, "Why do they want to remove Erdogan from power?" by replying that "They want to remove Erdogan from power because he interfered in their game and didn’t allow the US and the PKK to divide the country."

The French weekly L'Express magazine, which in recent years has often published articles against Muslims and thus violated their rights, claims in its May 4 issue that President Erdogan has gathered almost all the powers in one hand after the 2017 constitutional amendment referendum. Another magazine article uses the terms "dictator" and "autocrat". (reference)

If we count the steps taken by Turkiye after Erdogan came to power, we can understand the reaction of the Western media. At a time when Turkiye is experiencing one of the most active periods in the field of foreign policy, this very policy is criticized in the Western media and becomes a negative agenda. For example, Turkiye’s support to the legitimate government of Libya and its cooperation in some areas, its role in the liberation of Karabakh and its promotion of Azerbaijan-Armenia peace talks, political solution initiatives to end the humanitarian crisis in Syria, and its constructive role in the Russia-Ukraine war are highly appreciated by the people. This does not satisfy the Western media, so they criticize it.

These regional problems, to which Turkiye contributes positively, are interpreted in the Western media differently - as Turkiye’s "armed intervention". These speeches contain messages for both international and Turkish public. By this, they want to say that Turkiye is turning its face in a direction that the West does not want.

The writer of "Sabah" newspaper, Burhaneddin Duran, who evaluated the issue, pointed out that the Western media accelerated the campaign against President Erdogan in the last week of the election, and rightly said, "They want a harmonious and obedient Turkiye, they are worried about Erdogan's active policy based on national interests, and they don't like the actions that will be effective in the changing balance of the international system," he said.

"It is clear that the defeat of Erdogan and the victory of Kılıçdaroğlu is in the interest of the Western capitals. The opposition power that will keep the S-400s in the warehouse, behave in a pro-Western manner in relations with Russia, say yes to the demands from NATO, and pursue a different policy regarding the YPG is more acceptable for the West", said Minister of Communication Fahrettin Altun.

"As our country frees itself from the shackles, we observe an increase in the intensity of attacks based on the West. While Recep Tayyip Erdogan puts the interests of our nation in the forefront, the Western media ignores the principle of impartiality," Altun noted. (reference)

Not only us, but many local and foreign people say that this is an election that will decide the fate of not only Turkiye, but the world. (https://en.qantara.de/content/elections-in-turkey-the-end-of-the-erdogan-era).

Conclusions:

- Western media publishing anti-Erdogan articles is certainly not something new.

- If we carefully examine these articles and comments, it becomes clear that they are written with theses of common "brain centers".

- Turkiye’s independent foreign policy worries these centers and therefore they attack Erdogan and try to influence society to remove him from power.