The Headline That Frightened Turkey: Journalists Detained Over “Erdoğan’s Death”

In Turkey, the local newspaper Aydın Denge found itself at the centre of a scandal after publishing the headline «Erdoğan Vefat Etti» — «Erdoğan has died» on Facebook. At first glance, the message looked like news of the death of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. In fact, it concerned the death of a local resident, Gülşen Erdoğan.

The publication appeared on 25 August. The newspaper used a black background and large lettering in yellow and white: «Erdoğan Vefat Etti». At the same time, the publication itself contained a link to Gülşen Erdoğan’s death notice. It was the design, together with the absence of the deceased woman’s name from the large headline, that led the message to be perceived as information about the president’s death.

Why the confusion occurred

The reason lies in the features of the Turkish language. In Turkish, verbs do not change according to gender, so the construction «Erdoğan vefat etti» does not indicate whether the person was a man or a woman.

The phrase itself means «Erdoğan has passed away» and can quite naturally be used in the obituary of any person with the surname Erdoğan. In this case, the surname matched that of the country’s incumbent president, while Gülşen’s first name disappeared from the headline.

As a result, anyone who saw only the image on social media could genuinely conclude that it referred to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Prosecutors launch an investigation

After the publication spread on social media and citizens filed complaints, the Aydın Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation under Article 217/A of the Turkish Criminal Code — “public dissemination of misleading information”.

The investigation focused not only on the content but also on how the publication had been designed. The black background and large yellow-and-white letters visually resembled a mourning announcement and reinforced the impression that the death of a prominent politician was being reported. Turkish media reported that this presentation was one of the reasons for the complaints against the publication.

At first, three people were reported detained; later, the number rose to four

In the first hours after the investigation began, reports said that measures had been taken against three newspaper employees: publication representative Emine Aydın, managing editor Yeşim Ülker and journalist İslam Keleş.

It later became known that four people had been detained. In addition to the three, İrem Delidce was taken into custody. After investigative procedures, all four were brought before a court and released under judicial control. In other words, there have been no convictions at this stage; the investigation is ongoing.

This is not the first problem involving the surname Erdoğan

For the local newspaper, the construction «Erdoğan vefat etti» is not unusual in itself: many people with this surname live in Aydın, so similar obituaries can quite naturally appear in the regional press.

That is why the key issue in this story is not the mention of the surname Erdoğan itself, but the way the information was presented on social media. Although the deceased woman’s first name was included in the full text, users scrolling through Facebook initially saw only the large phrase «Erdoğan has died».

As a result, an ordinary local death notice turned into a political scandal and led to a criminal investigation.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, however, did not die. Aydın Denge’s publication concerned the death of a local resident, Gülşen Erdoğan — a woman who shared the president’s surname.

The story vividly demonstrates how easily an apparently innocuous headline can change meaning on social media: all it takes is removing the person’s first name and leaving only a surname shared with a well-known politician.