Assange recalls fake reporting on Turkish deadly coup attempt

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Thursday pointed out that fake news articles regarding the defeated coup in Turkey in July 2016 was not mentioned in US President Donald Trump’s self-proclaimed “Fake News Awards”.

“The most serious case of recent fake news is not on Trump's #FakeNewsAwards list. NBC substantially assisted the military coup in Turkey which killed hundreds,” Assange wrote on his official Twitter account.

Turkey accuses a network linked to the US-based Fetullah Gulen – commonly referred to in Turkey as the Fetullah Terrorist Organisation (FETO) - of orchestrating the defeated coup on July 15, 2016, which left 249 people dead and more than  2,000 others injured.

Ankara says FETO is behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish state institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.

On Wednesday, Trump gave top three positions to the New York Times, ABC and CNN.

“NBC falsely reported, citing a ‘senior US military source’, that Erdogan had fled the country”, the WikiLeaks founder said.

Kyle Griffin, an NBC News producer, had tweeted a fabricated claim that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan fled the country to request asylum in Germany, during the failed coup.

The Turkish embassy in the US had demanded an apology from the major US news network for an “utterly unacceptable” and "false" report regarding the coup attempt.

'Highly irresponsible'

The embassy had described the false news as "outrageous" and said that such sensitive information about the well-being of the Turkish president was unprofessionally handled, and shared publicly without first checking first the validity and credibility of the source.

"Senior US military source tells NBC News that Erdogan, refused landing rights in Istanbul, is reported to be seeking asylum in Germany,” Griffin had said on Twitter.

Griffin's tweet was also described as "highly irresponsible" by the Turkish embassy.

A number of media outlets, including The Washington Post, used Griffin’s tweet in their reports as millions of residents heeded Erdogan's call to defeat the coup attempt by taking to the streets.

Assange has been holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy located in Knightsbridge, central London for nearly six years after claiming diplomatic asylum in June 2012 after being wanted by Swedish prosecutors for questioning over various alleged sexual offenses.

He was supposed to be extradited to Stockholm by British authorities before entering the embassy.

He refused to go back to Sweden, referring to the risk of extradition to the US, where he insisted the American authorities would charge him with espionage for releasing troves of once-secret files to the public.

Assange, who is Australian by birth, recently became an Ecuadorian citizen and was granted a passport.

Swedish prosecutors last year dropped their investigation into allegations against Assange but he still faces arrest by British authorities for breaching his former bail conditions if he leaves the embassy.