By: Emincan Yüksel
June 1 2023
No, this video does not show Erdoğan’s election victory being celebrated at Al-Aqsa mosque
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Fact-Check
The Verdict False
Erdoğan’s election victory is not celebrated in this video. It shows Al-Aqsa mosque with thousands of Palestinians praying on the 2023 Night of Power.
Claim ID b3c3d768
Context
Following the second round of the Turkish presidential elections on May 28, 2023, a video began circulating across multiple social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter, accumulating more than 180,000 views, 1,100 retweets, and 7,000 likes. The footage, shot from an elevated viewpoint at Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, shows crowds of people gathering and shouting what sounds like a slogan. It is accompanied by claims that it depicts President Erdoğan's election victory celebrations.
In Fact
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan won with 52.2 percent of the vote in Türkiye's runoff elections on May 28, extending his rule as the 12th president of the nation, having held the position since 2014. Further research into the footage found the original video was filmed on Palestine's Night of Power, which took place on April 14, 2023. The video shows a significant gathering of thousands of Palestinians at the Al-Aqsa mosque to commemorate the occasion. The Night of Power is a significant occasion in the Muslim calendar, as it commemorates the night Prophet Muhammad was shown the first verses of the Qu'ran. Al-Jazeera reports around 250,000 people attended a similar event in 2022 at the holy site of Al-Aqsa.
An Instagram user initially posted the original video, in which the audio captures the sounds of Islamic prayers known as Salawat. However, the viral video features a different audio track overlaid onto the footage. When analyzing the original audio, it can be determined that the slogan says, "Labbayk ya Aqsa," which means, "Here I am at your service Al-Aqsa." There is no mention of Erdoğan or the elections.
France24 has also reported on several videos featuring Al-Aqsa mosque being taken out of context to falsely claim celebrations in the wake of the Turkish elections, many of which have been shared by accounts supportive of Erdoğan.
The Verdict
The video in question is not related to the elections in Türkiye. A video claiming to show Erdoğan's election victory at Masjid Al-Aqsa has been aurally manipulated is, in fact, a video of Palestinians praying during April 2023's Night of Power. Therefore we have marked this claim as false.
