Turkish reporter made up Kushner’s pro-Erdogan quote
The president's adviser did not say 'Erdogan is making Turkey great again,' he only replied in the affirmative when asked, journalist with AKSAM says
A Turkish reporter admitted that he fabricated a quote by Jared Kushner in which President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser reportedly said Turkish President Recep Erdogan “is making Turkey great again like [the] US, we watch his efforts with appreciation.”
Yavuz Atalay, a reporter for the newspaper AKSAM, told The Daily Caller Thursday that he made up the quote.
In a private Twitter exchange with The Daily Caller, Atalay said he spoke with Kushner for less than two minutes.
“He did not say that,” Atalay wrote of the quote in question. “I asked him, ‘Do you think, Erdogan is making Turkey great again, like Trump?’ and he only said, ‘Yeah, I think so.’”
A selfie with Kushner and the reporter accompanies the article.
A White House official told the Daily Caller that the journalist “approached Jared for a selfie but is not quoted accurately. It’s made up.”
Atalay has a history of exaggerating the Trump administration’s view of Erdogan and the Turkish government, according to The Daily Caller.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.