In his letter, Altun said: “I was drawn to the fact that CBS News, in a report on the passage of Russian warships through the strait, identified the largest city of Turkey, which has been under the sovereignty of the Turkish nation since 1453, as a Greek territory. Given that Greece is harming regional security with its extremist demands in the eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean, and weakening the eastern flank of NATO, we solemnly and publicly protest this mistake to your channel, which we hope will not be malicious.And we expect that the necessary measures will be taken to ensure that the mistake that happened once is not repeated We look forward to receiving clarifications regarding this incident.”
The channel responded with a written apology for a report that showed Istanbul as a Greek land on the map. According to the Turkish Presidency’s Public Relations Department, the letter of apology read: “The official infographic with the map, in which Istanbul was mistakenly presented as not Turkish, but a Greek land, has been corrected. Once the error is discovered it has been corrected. We remain committed to integrity in all our news releases and we will review our broadcast process to ensure similar mistakes are not repeated in the future. Thank you for contacting us and giving us the opportunity to apologize on behalf of CBS News.”
“Media disinformation… Istanbul is Greek”… Turkey warns and an American TV network apologizes
Fahrettin Altun, head of the Turkish Presidency’s Public Relations Department, sent a warning message to the American channel “CBS News” regarding the disinformation that the channel published.
The US network showed a map of the movement of Russian warships through the Istanbul Strait, and the Turkish city was identified as a Greek territory.