ANKARA — With just 12 days to go until Turkey’s fateful elections and as polls give a knife-edge lead to Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s top rival, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the country’s main opposition suggested on Tuesday that the ruling party was planning to try to sway the vote through deepfake audios.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with private HaberTurk television, deputy chairman of the main opposition Ozgur Ozel said they received a tip that government officials were in talks with individuals on the dark web to release some deepfake audios ahead of elections. “Some preparations are underway. … We have received a tip [in regard] to the production of deepfake audios and dissemination of these fake audios through the dark web,” he said.
Ozel’s remarks followed a cryptic midnight warning by main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who accused Erdogan’s communications czar, Fahrettin Altun, and three of his staff members of trying to strike deals on the dark web.
“Only 2 days left until the 10 final days. Let me issue my final warning,” the main opposition leader tweeted. “The dark web world which you are trying to strike a deal with will lead you to fall into the hands of foreign intelligence. Pulling a Cambridge Analytica is beyond your capacity boys! This is my final warning.”
