News18, India Today reports linking Turkey to Delhi blast: Turkey calls it a malicious campaign

Media reports by News18, India Today and other outlets linking Türkiye to “radicalisation activities” targeting India have drawn a strong response from Ankara, which warned that such claims are “part of a malicious disinformation campaign aimed at damaging bilateral relations between the two countries.”

In the aftermath of the blast in Delhi earlier this week that killed 13 people, several news organisations, citing unnamed police sources, reported that investigators probing the Red Fort blast had traced a purported connection between the arrested suspects and a foreign handler allegedly operating from Ankara, and these reports prompted Türkiye’s Directorate of Communications Centre for Countering Disinformation to issue a detailed rebuttal.

The directorate said that media updates had been circulating claims that “Türkiye is linked to terrorist acts in India and provides logistical, diplomatic, and financial support to terrorist groups,” and it posted screenshots of updates by News18 and India Today on X with a large cross mark printed over them to counter what it described as deliberate falsehoods.

In its statement, Türkiye said that it “firmly rejects all acts of terrorism, regardless of where or by whom they are committed, and stands as a leading country in the fight against terrorism through cooperation with the international community,” and it stressed that it actively contributes to the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy while also “playing an effective role” in shaping NATO’s counter-terrorism policies.

The directorate further added that the allegation that Türkiye engages in “radicalisation activities” targeting India or any other country “is purely disinformative and lacks any factual basis,” and it argued that such reporting was intended to undermine Ankara’s longstanding engagement on issues of global security.

“Such unfounded and manipulative reports targeting Türkiye are attempts to undermine our country’s contributions to international peace, security, and stability,” the statement said, as it urged that “the public is kindly advised not to give credence to such disinformative claims,” and it reiterated that Ankara considered the media reports both baseless and harmful to bilateral relations.