In one photo, someone, apparently a child whose face and body are obscured by a coat, lies motionless on the ground. Another photo shows a Turkish soldier cradling the body of a boy not older than 10. Both photos spread across social media networks accompanied by the same story. The boy in the photo is one of three children of Hüseyin and Nur Maden, a couple of teachers who were dismissed from their posts in northern Turkey for alleged links to the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), the story, which conveniently claims their innocence, says. It continues with how the couple boarded a rubber boat for a secret journey to Greece and how it ended with disaster when their boat sank near the Greek island of Lesvos.
A quick online search, however, proves this is just more "fake news" churned out by the propaganda machine of the terrorist group blamed for the 2016 coup attempt that killed 249 people. The first photo showing the boy - or girl - is from a Greek website that does not even mention the identities of the victims, while the second photo is from a 2016 story about foreign migrants who died when their boat sank off the Çanakkale coast en route to Greece.
After FETÖ-linked social media accounts circulated it online, many fell for the story and sympathized with what they called the "plight" of "unfairly accused" Gülenists. Some even compared it to the story of Alan Kurdi, a Syrian refugee boy depicted in a photo of his lifeless body washed ashore on the Turkish coast that triggered efforts to stop deadly journeys by Syrian refugees on the Aegean Sea.
The false story reported by FETÖ-linked news websites first claims that the bodies of the three children washed ashore on the coast of the Greek island of Lesvos a few weeks ago. Indeed, Greek media outlets reported early in November that the bodies of the three children were found on the coast of the island though authorities still could not identify them as they were decomposed. Greek media outlets also said there were no known incidents of sinking boats when the bodies were found in a period of three days.
After the coup attempt by its infiltrators in the military, thousands of people linked to the group were detained or arrested, while others fled abroad. Facing its biggest crackdown, FETÖ, whose senior figures live abroad, started an anti-government campaign to defame the Turkish government, claiming "Hizmet," as they called themselves, was targeted for crimes they did not commit. However, evidence shows the terrorist group orchestrated the coup attempt and committed other crimes, ranging from illegal wiretapping, blackmail and organizing sham trials through its members infiltrated in the military, law enforcement, judiciary, and bureaucracy.
In the latest round of operations against FETÖ, dozens, including former teachers, doctors and lawyers, were arrested yesterday for links to the group. The suspects are accused of using ByLock, an encrypted messaging app exclusively employed by the group. The group's U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gülen allegedly relayed orders to his followers via the app, according to prosecutors.