The Russian internet news site mk-turkey.ru, which reports Turkish news in the Russian language, on February 11, 2024, issued an article taken from the Turkish news source, Haber Global [World News], which is based in Türkiye but owned by Azeri businessmen Elnur Abdullayev and Mammad Gulmammadov. The channel’s slogan is “The Free [as in ‘Independent’] Voice of Türkiye.” Because both Azerbaijan’s and Türkiye’s freedom of journalistic expression is severely restricted, it will be interesting to see to what extent Haber Global’s content reflects bias-free reporting. This new initiative could be an important step in accessing a reliable source of news from two of the most consequential Islamist-leaning states in their respective spheres of influence.

However, if the following article is any indication, there appears to be a potential for an unbiased source of news coming out of Türkiye concerning both Türkiye and Azerbaijan. The article calls a spade a spade by correctly identifying the “Palestinian radical movement HAMAS” as initiating the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

The article follows [translated by LOC]:

According to its [Haber Global] information, the speech will concern “legal consequences of the actions of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories.” Not specified is who will represent Türkiye at the court in the Hague.

The UN International Court of Justice earlier obligated Israel to accept measures for preventing genocide in the Gaza Strip and to provide access to humanitarian aid to its residents as well as to guarantee safeguarding evidence connected with accusations of committing actions described in the Convention on Genocide in relation to the Palestinian people. Given this, the UN court did not even begin to obligate Israel to cease the military operation in Gaza. The Republic of South Africa asked about this in its lawsuit, which was delivered to the court in the Hague on December 29, 2023.

The situation in the Middle East has worsened dramatically after militants of the Palestinian radical movement HAMAS on October 7, 2023, penetrated from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory. The infiltration was accompanied by murders of residents of border-populated areas and the taking of hostages. Israel began to inflict strikes on the Palestinian enclave and separate regions of Lebanon and Syria in response. On December 1, the Israeli Army accused HAMAS of violating the ceasefire in force since November 24 and declared that it would resume military actions in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian authorities blamed the U.S. for the renewed Israeli aggression.