Turkey may be using Qatar-sponsored Al Jazeera to smear Greece

Turkey has adopted a strategy to use Qatari news outlet Al Jazeera to smear Greece, Greek City Times said on Wednesday.

Al Jazeera used a cover photo in one of its articles on Apr. 23 that showed the Greek island of Kastellorizo and its surrounding islets as parts of Turkey, at a time when “Turkey [is] not even remotely hiding its intentions to occupy Greek islands and maritime space”, Greek City Times said.

“It now appears that Al Jazeera is once again joining Turkey’s propaganda campaign against Greece, by not showing the island as a part of Greece, but rather of Turkey,” it said.

The news outlet also said the Qatari news outlet’s report on Apr. 9, titled “Western Thrace, Contested Space: The Turks of northeast Greece”, was essentially covert propaganda for Turkey.

The Turkish minority of around 150,000 people in the region has long been an issue of contention between Ankara and Athens, with Turkey calling out Greece for what it calls its failure to grant full rights to the minority, including a state denial of ethnic identity and restrictions on the freedom of religion.