EXPOSED: Turkey’s Media Jihad Against India — Powered by Pakistan
Turkey’s propaganda media front, TRT World, has spearheaded anti-India narratives, peddling full-blown pro-Pakistani propaganda
Pakistan PM Shahbaz Sharif is meeting Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan TWICE in ONE month, post the Pahalgam terror attack and after #OperationSindoor.
This not only reveals the true nature of their alliance but also EXPOSES their transnational alliance against India!
What we’re seeing today is a reflection of years of planning and collaboration. From 2018’s coordinated social media campaigns to 2022’s RToK in Sarajevo, every major anti-India narrative has been amplified simultaneously from Islamabad and Istanbul!
The Erdoğan network isn’t just diplomatic — it’s operational. Through a web of NGOs spanning continents, the Erdoğan family has built an influence ecosystem that abets everything — from Hamas to Pakistan-sponsored anti-India campaigns, including terror attacks.
Two weeks ahead of the Pahalgam terror attack, a sequence of events transpired between Pakistan and Turkey:
a. A think tank linked to Turkey’s Erdoğan family hosted a propaganda event on Kashmir.
b. TRT World interviewed a white-collared terrorist, Muzzammil Thakur, for propaganda on Kashmir.
On 9th April, Pakistani think tank CISSAJK released a report whitewashing the Pulwama terror attack and blaming India’s ruling party for “pushing South Asia to the nuclear brink.”
On 6th April, Muzzammil Thakur was also the “chief guest” at TUGVA — an organization closely linked to the Erdoğan family. Bilal Erdoğan (Erdoğan’s son) sits on the advisory board of TUGVA. TUGVA pursues the political ambitions of Erdoğan’s AK Party via its programs.
Note: TUGVA is also known for corruption allegations, promoting extremist Islamist ideology through jihadist camps, and working with Insani Haq-o-Hurriyat (IHH), which supports Al-Qaeda and ISIS.
On one hand, TUGVA hosted Muzzammil Thakur; on the other hand, he was interviewed by Turkey’s state-affiliated media and propaganda arm, TRT World. Muzzammil also shared the stage with Hamas supporter Azzam Tamimi at Ummatics Istanbul — a network founded by a Pakistani-American.
This is not the first time Turkey has abetted this anti-India figure. In 2016, TRT was the first portal to interview Muzzammil and project him as the face of resistance in Kashmir globally. It was the first time Muzzammil Thakur began receiving an international platform.
This is not a one-off or isolated instance where Turkey has abetted the Pakistani agenda globally. In fact, it has even worked hand-in-hand with Pakistan against certain countries, including India. To put things in perspective, both Turkey and Pakistan are strategic partners.
Turkey not only provides military support to Pakistan, but their alliance is marked by various aspects, including:
a. Defence deals
b. Info-war coordination
c. Military exercises
d. Technology deals
Turkey’s propaganda media front, TRT World, has spearheaded anti-India narratives, peddling full-blown pro-Pakistani propaganda — including Pakistani fake news and giving space to Pakistani faces — weaving the narrative of an alliance between India and Israel as colonial settlers.
According to a 2021 report, TRT World employed at least 50 Pakistanis out of 300-odd staff, collectively comprising correspondents, producers, and editors based in Istanbul. TRT World and Anadolu Agency are tasked with carrying propaganda favourable to the Turkey-Pakistan alliance.
Turkey under Erdoğan positions itself as a Muslim world leader, using Islamic identity to counter Western influence, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. Pakistan has often aligned with Turkey’s narratives, including on Islamophobia, to resonate with global Muslim populations.
Targeting Muslim Brotherhood–targeted Countries:
Turkey and Pakistan jointly targeted countries that have also been targeted by the global radical Muslim Brotherhood — namely France, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and India.
In May 2020, #BoycottUAE trended in Pakistan after Turkish social media users promoted the hashtag. Turks were angered by the UAE’s support for Haftar’s forces in Libya (which opposed the Turkey-backed GNA) and the UAE’s ties with India.
In October 2020, Turkey and Pakistan united to push #BoycottFrenchProducts over France’s defence of free speech. Erdoğan urged Turks to shun French goods, while Pakistan’s parliament passed a resolution in 2020 backing Turkey’s call to boycott French products.
Similarly, this group also executed a slander campaign against Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS). A number of pictures of the Saudi Prince with the Indian PM were recycled to suggest he was not standing up for the cause of Muslims.
As noted, Turkey supports Pakistan in several ways: endorsing its stance on Kashmir, pushing anti-India narratives like “Islamophobia,” and using diplomatic channels and state tools — including TRT World and social media — to fuel global boycott campaigns against India.
This alliance gained more visibility after the Indian government abrogated Article 370 in J&K. Turkey and Pakistan intensified coordinated disinformation campaigns on Kashmir, weaponizing tropes like ‘Islamophobia’ to malign India’s image and hinder India’s economic interests.
On August 5, 2019, after India revoked Articles 370 and 35A, while Pakistani media pushed aggressive propaganda, Turkish outlets like TRT World and Anadolu Agency were among the first international platforms to echo Pakistan’s Kashmir narrative against India.
TRT World published over 30 long stories related to Jammu and Kashmir, and interestingly, 14 of them were also recommended by the Pakistani Foreign Ministry. A word cloud and timeline of TRT World’s coverage on Kashmir is shown below.
Turkey’s state-funded Anadolu Agency amplified fake news claiming India issued 3.4 million bogus domiciles in Kashmir to alter its demography post-Article 370. The false report was widely shared by Pakistani media — later proven fake.
The first BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) call against India appeared on Facebook on August 8, 2019 — just 3 days after the abrogation of Article 370. By August 13, 2019, the Palestinian BDS Committee had released a statement amplified via Pakistani- and Turkish-aligned platforms.
Pakistan-backed accounts launched a coordinated BDS campaign targeting India using #BoycottIndia and #BoycottIndianProducts, with over 162K tweets on X — mostly from fake or new Pakistan-based handles.
In September 2019, then-Pakistan PM Imran Khan used the UN General Assembly to accuse India of “Islamophobia” post-Article 370 abrogation. That same year, Pak sympathizer CJ Werleman pushed the Islamophobia trope against India, amplified by Turkish and Pakistani networks.
Weaponizing the OIC
Pakistan and Turkey also weaponized the OIC to amplify anti-India narratives in 2020 — citing CAA/NRC and Kashmir to push claims of ‘Islamophobia’. Turkey’s Anadolu Agency, TRT World, and Erdoğan backed the line.
OIC Statement & Fake Arab Handles Campaign
In April 2020, after OIC criticized India over Islamophobia, Pakistan launched a fake social media campaign. Pak accounts posing as Arab royals unleashed a disinformation campaign (later exposed) to target India with Islamophobia.
Soft Calls for BDS Against India
In collusion, Turkey and Pakistan organized several events equating Kashmir with Palestine and called for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against India. Seminars and events were organized jointly by this alliance.
In May 2020, an event was jointly hosted by Kashmir Civitas (based in Pakistan, Istanbul, Shanghai, and Qatar), along with Turkey-based Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA), to draw a parallel between Kashmir and Palestine and seek BDS against India.
Similarly, on June 29–30, 2020, Istanbul University organized an event on Kashmir attended by Pakistani ministers and convicted ISI agent Ghulam Nabi Fai among others. Masood Khan urged Turkey’s intervention in the Kashmir issue while seeking BDS against India.
To lend legitimacy to the BDS campaign against India, pro-Pakistan networks enlisted CJ Werleman to write an article on TRT World (July 2020) framing the Kashmir issue within the global BDS movement and internationalizing anti-India narratives.
A few months later, to test the waters, in September 2021, the #BoycottIndianProducts campaign trended on X — this time spearheaded by the global Muslim Brotherhood along with the nexus of Qatar-Turkey-Pakistan (QTPi).
Two months later, in December 2021, the Turkey-Pakistan nexus — including Pakistan’s Jamaat and Erdoğan-linked entities — backed by the Muslim Brotherhood nexus linked to Hamas, organized a hush-hush ‘Russell Tribunal on Kashmir (RToK)’ against India.
Major takeaway of the 3-day Tribunal: BDS Movement against India!
RToK & Erdoğan Link
Among the organizers of the RToK tribunal was the International University of Sarajevo (IUS). The president of IUS is Professor Dr. Sevgi Kurtulmuş, professor of Economics at Ankara University. Dr. Sevgi is the wife of Numan Kurtulmuş, who was Deputy PM of Turkey (2014–17), from the AKP.
IUS was founded by the Foundation for Education Development Sarajevo (SEDEF) in 2003. SEDEF is a pro-government Turkish businessmen and Islamist foundation backed by Erdoğan.
SEDEF’s constituent organization is ILIM YAYMA VAKFI, founded by Erdoğan on March 31, 1973. Bilal Erdoğan is its president.
Prior to the RToK event, IUS had never engaged with Kashmir. Yet, this Erdoğan-linked university co-organized the RToK — after months of seminars and online boycott campaigns against India. Erdoğan’s ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and Turkish state media’s role in the MB-led boycott are well known.
Another key organizer of the RToK was Kashmir Civitas (KC), established in 2019 with bases in Istanbul, London, Beijing, Rome, and Toronto. Farhan Mujahid Chak is the face of KC. He is of Pakistani origin, Qatar-resident, and currently based in Canada.
A few days after RToK, UK-based firm Stoke White — whose founder Hakan Camuz is a Turkish citizen and close to the Erdoğan family — ran a smear arrest campaign against the Indian Army and India’s Home Minister, accusing India of human rights violations in J&K.
Hakan Camuz headed the UK-based Turken Foundation (2015–19), which has deep links with the Erdoğan family.
The Turken Foundation was established by two Turkish organizations: Ensar Foundation (est. 1979) and TURGEV (est. 1996 by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan). Bilal Erdoğan was once a board member of the Turken Foundation UK.
Ensar Foundation
In 2016, Ensar Foundation was involved in a child abuse scandal in Karaman, a central Anatolian town in Turkey, in a guest house run by Ensar Foundation. The foundation is known to be run by close associates of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan!
The Relationship Goes Deeper
In 2014, Camuz represented Bilal Erdoğan in a case against CNBC and David L. Philips after they exposed alleged links between Bilal and Turkey’s Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) in funding terror group ISIS. IHH is a known tool of Turkey’s intelligence agency Millî İstihbarat Teşkilatı (MİT).
Camuz’s Stoke White has run legal and smear campaigns targeting countries — UAE, Saudi Arabia, India, and France — all targeted by the Muslim Brotherhood and Turkey. Its cases also echo Ankara’s narrative, even demanding action against Erdoğan’s rival, Mohammed Dahlan.
On Jan 19, 2022, Stoke White launched a hit job against the Indian Home Minister and Army Chief (from Jan 2021), accusing India of genocide in Kashmir.
This was based on an “investigation” with Pakistan-based Legal Forum for Oppressed Voices of Kashmir (LFOVK). The campaign was strategically made to trend in Turkey.
LFOVK is headed by Pakistani Judge Justice Ali Nawaz Chawhan (late) and Advocate Nasir Qadri. It is pertinent to note that while SW launched a hit job against the Indian HM and then-Indian Army Chief, it was LFOVK that started the #arrestindianarmychief trend and peddled the narrative of ‘war crimes in Kashmir’ with SW.
LFK collaborates with think tanks like IPRI and IPS — both deeply tied to the Pakistan Army and ISI. Asad Durrani, ex-IPS member, was the general of Military Intelligence (MI) and ISI. These institutions were tasked by Pakistan’s Senate in 2016 to identify and exploit India’s “fault lines.”
Just two weeks ahead of the RToK in Sarajevo, LFOVK head Nasir Qadri and primary organizer Farhan Mujahid Chak (Kashmir Civitas) attended the 17th IPS Working Group on Kashmir in 2021 — joined by others including Irshad Mahmood, Tajammul Altaf, and APHC officials.
The New Narrative
As noted, there have been strong efforts to seek BDS against India, just like the BDS movement against Israel. Through boycott campaigns, hit job campaigns, and RToK, this alliance has been forging a narrative linking India and Israel.
Hence, this transnational alliance — driven by Turkey’s vision of becoming the poster boy of the Islamic world — uses Turkish propaganda fronts along with Pakistani allies to craft the India-Israel narrative. Turkey actively abets and drives these efforts alongside Pakistan through state machinery and media.
Most recently, TRT World gave a platform to Nasir Qadri, who accused India of adopting Israel’s settler-colonial tactics. During the India-Pakistan conflict in May 2025, a number of Pakistani handles also peddled the same narrative as Nasir Qadri on TRT World.
Turkey is fast emerging as a new hub for anti-India radical Islamists.
This investigative article draws exclusively from verified research conducted by DisInfoLab, a leading organization renowned for uncovering global disinformation campaigns, propaganda networks, and hybrid warfare strategies. Every event, connection, and claim outlined in this exposé is rooted in meticulously documented findings from DisInfoLab’s reports.
