As results were being finalized on the night of the municipal elections on March 31, most Justice and Development Party (AKP) elites were unhappy. One senior member anonymously told Al-Monitor, “There are two major losses that cannot be hidden. First, the CHP [the main opposition Republican People’s Party] now has control of six of 10 major cities.” In 2014, the CHP had won only the city of Izmir. He added, “Plus, in cities we won, we see the worrisome result in cities seen as AKP bases. In Konya, we lost 14.5%, in Urfa 11.5% and 10% in Antep. We had control of all financial and social means: commercials, polling companies and the media. How did this happen?”

Indeed, this is a question frequently heard after the shock of March 31 in Ankara. Pro-AKP entities make up almost 90% of the media in Turkey. Not only does the government run most media outlets, but it has also successfully silenced any critical and honest voices. The Turkish Journalists Syndicate reports that 133 journalists are currently in jail. The Turkish government exercises legal pressures on expression of opinions in public from social media outlets to all other platforms of communication. Add this to Erdogan’s intense campaign rhetoric centered on the survival of the country and labeling opposition candidates as legally dubious people, and it is quite impressive to see the accomplishments of the opposition parties.

After the shock of the election results settled in, the pro-AKP media fumed about the ballot recount in Istanbul. On April 3, Islamist daily Yeni Safak’s columnist Ibrahim Karagul penned a piece that blatantly called for the nullification of the election results in Istanbul and a new election for the city. He declared the loss a coup against Turkey.

Another group that immediately started spreading fake news about Istanbul results is known as the Pelican clique. The group is led by Sabah daily’s columnist Hilal Kaplan, who was best known for her role in bringing about the end of Ahmet Davutoglu’s political career. Kaplan tweeted on April 1 that results of the elections were not valid and a new election had been called by the Supreme Election Board. This was fake news.