Turkish presidential aide accuses Deutsche Welle of producing fake news, poisoning relations

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Turkey's Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun accused Deutsche Welle Turkish of "producing fake news" and "poisoning Turkish-German relations" on Oct. 26 after the outlet published a story regarding President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's row with 10 Western envoys.  

Deutsche Welle published a story reporting that Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu had said he would resign if Erdoğan went through with his threats of declaring 10 ambassadors "persona non grata."

The president's suggestion followed a dispute over the embassies' public statements urging for the release of jailed philanthropist Osman Kavala.

"Our foreign minister refuted this claim last night. You still insist on this lie. If your goal was to do journalism, you would have recused the story and issued an apology. You not only produce 'fake news,' but you also poison Turkish-German relations," Altun said in a tweet on Oct. 26. 

Turkey and its Western allies climbed down from a full-blown diplomatic crisis on Oct. 25 after foreign embassies said that they abide by diplomatic conventions on non-interference, averting a threatened expulsion of 10 ambassadors.

Erdoğan on Oct. 25 told a news conference the envoys of the United States, Germany, France, Canada, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland had stepped back and would be more careful.

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