ABC video mistake smears Turkey

The ABC News show 'World News Tonight” issued a correction and apology Monday for using video from a Kentucky gun range while falsely claiming it depicted a fierce battle between Syrian YPG terrorists and Turkish forces.

While ABC News was forced to take down its fake news video that aired on 'World News Tonight” on Sunday and 'Good Morning America” on Monday, the damage is done, millions have seen this fake piece of turcophobic propaganda.

But ABC News is far from being alone - virtually every media, pundit and elected official in the West, as well as in Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia, are competing with each other on who, by all means necessary, will degrade the 70-year old strategic allied relations between the U.S. and Turkey, a NATO member. Strange bedfellows, these Turkey-bashers.

We know not to trust the current news cycle's anti-Turkey hysteria. Turkey, a member of the U.S.-led alliance against terrorists in Syria, is engaged in a long-overdue humanitarian intervention to create a 30 km buffer zone on its border with Syria - so that up to 5 million Syrian refugees that have been living in Turkey all these years could finally return to their homeland.

So far civilian casualties from the Turkish humanitarian intervention have been calculated to be 38 people. Compare that with 29,000 killed during U.S.-led alliance bombardments or over 500,000 Syrian civilians dead since 2011. Please keep this in mind and cut through the smoke of fake videos and misinformed reporting.

Agshin Taghiyev

Coralville