State Media, Terror Ties: How Turkey's Anadolu Agency Targets Americans
A new Jewish Onliner investigation reveals how Turkey's Anadolu Agency has become a sophisticated propaganda machine targeting Americans while employing terror-tied personnel
A new Jewish Onliner investigation reveals that Turkey's official state news outlet, Anadolu Agency, has evolved into a sophisticated propaganda apparatus that maintains relationships with designated terrorist organizations while systematically targeting American audiences with anti-Western narratives through social media platforms that reach over 1.3 million followers.
The investigation found that Anadolu Agency (AA), established in 1920 as Turkey's official news service, has been transformed under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan into a direct vector for radicalization that employs personnel with documented terror connections and promotes content favorable to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, while also promoting narratives that inaccurately portray the United States as a racist, oppressive country.
Ties to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood
AA maintains documented relationships with Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood leadership, as evidenced through exclusive interviews, direct communications, and formal partnerships with terrorist leaders and terror-linked organizations like the League of Parliamentarians for Al-Quds (LP4Q). The agency's coverage presents Hamas in favorable terms, referring to Hamas terrorists as "resistance fighters" and provides uncritical platforms for their statements and propaganda.
AA has conducted exclusive, fawning interviews with former Hamas leaders such as Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Meshal. The Muslim Brotherhood spokesman sent congratulatory messages on Telegram to AA leadership, describing it as a "distinguished media institution" and "voice that speaks the truth." The agency partnered with LP4Q, which purports to work on behalf of Palestinian rights but maintains extensive ties to terrorist networks, with LP4Q's president linked to U.S.-sanctioned groups supporting Hamas.
In 2020, Egyptian police conducted a raid on Anadolu Agency's Cairo office, resulting in the detention of four staff members. Egypt's Interior Ministry justified the operation as part of broader counter-terrorism efforts, stating that the action targeted the news agency due to its role in advancing "the plots of the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood and the countries supporting it.”
State Control and Government Agenda Promotion
Anadolu Agency operates as a state-run news agency where President Erdoğan has exercised significant influence over key appointments and editorial direction. Media Bias/Fact Check rates AA as "an agency controlled by the right-wing ruling party" with "a very strong pro-government state bias."
In 2014, Erdoğan's former aide Şenol Kazancı was appointed as AA's Director General, serving in that position until 2021. After the adoption of Turkey's presidential system in 2018, Erdoğan placed Anadolu Agency under the direct control of the Communications Directorate of the Turkish Presidency by presidential decree.
A Reuters investigation in 2022 revealed that during the 2019 Istanbul municipal elections, AA abruptly stopped releasing election results when the opposition candidate was leading, creating "confusion and paralysis" in newsrooms as managers awaited government direction on how to report the outcome.
Turkey's Constitutional Court later ruled in 2021 that placing AA under direct control of the Communications Directorate violated the agency's constitutional autonomy. However, Erdoğan's influence over AA's editorial narratives remains intact even after this ruling – owing to the authoritarian nature of his rule – and AA continues to be universally recognized as state-run.
AA Journalists Linked to Terror Organizations
Multiple AA staff members have documented connections to terrorist organizations, creating systematic compromises in editorial independence and professional integrity.
Omar El-Qattaa, an AA photojournalist, has extensive documented connections to Hamas. The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA) documented El-Qattaa's extensive social media activity promoting antisemitic sentiment and praising Hamas operations. In 2012, El Qatta was photographed receiving an award from former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. El-Qatta has taken numerous photos in Gaza that have been featured in AA.
On November 30, 2013 he posted on X (then Twitter): "Awaken a war, light a fire and let it be a curse upon the Jews and their supporters." Additional posts praised former Hamas spokesman Abu Obaida, referring to him as "oh terror of the Jews" and expressing support for his operations. While these social media posts have since been deleted, their documentation reveals the depth of ideological alignment and active support for terrorist operations.
Ashraf al-Amra, another AA photojournalist, was present during Hamas's October 7, 2023 attacks, capturing real-time photos of the massacre. His photographs, credited to "Ashraf Amra/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images," documented Hamas breaching Israeli security infrastructure. Reuters selected Amra's October 7 photographs as "Pictures of the Month," confirming his presence during the attacks.
Amra has taken infamous photos of former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, including a 2018 photo from a Hamas rally in Khan Yunis showing Sinwar flaunting a handgun he allegedly took from Israeli soldiers. Other notable photos by Amra include Sinwar at a Hamas rally in Gaza City in 2021, holding up a young child holding a rifle.
In September 2023, Amra received a hospital visit from former Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh and Hamas official Taher al-Nunu while being treated for injuries sustained during Gaza border riots. During this visit, Haniyeh expressed appreciation for Amra's role in exposing "crimes of the occupation," while Amra committed to continuing his "national role" despite his injuries. This high-profile visit represented the second
documented interaction between Haniyeh and Amra, with the first occurring in 2012. Amra has also been photographed posing with Salama Maarouf, head of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office.
Promotion of Anti-American and Anti-Western Narratives
AA distributes content in English targeting American audiences which presents the United States in negative terms, emphasizing themes of systemic racism and oppression while amplifying divisive social issues. Articles blame the U.S. for "genocide, displacement, seclusion, removal and ongoing oppression and intergenerational trauma" of Native Americans, accuse the U.S. of genocide in multiple regions, and promote the narrative of “institutional racism” as a potential strategy of stoking social tensions rather than providing balanced international news coverage.
Influence on Americans and Lack of Transparency
AA maintains a presence at four U.S. locations and has a sizeable following on social media: 570k on Facebook, 226k on YouTube, 99.6k on Instagram, 236.8k on TikTok, and 245k on X.
Despite AA’s status as a state-controlled media outlet, it has not registered under FARA in the United States. Aside for YouTube, its accounts generally lack required "state-controlled media" labeling, making them less transparent than other state media.
Allegations of Staged Gaza Photographs
Concerns about Anadolu Agency's Gaza coverage gained international attention through a major investigation in August 2025 that raised serious questions about the agency's photojournalistic practices and editorial standards.
German newspaper Bild published a widely read investigation that accused AA photographer Anas Zayed Fteiha of staging Hamas propaganda. Fteiha's work, distributed through Anadolu and picked up by major international media outlets including CNN, BBC, and German publications, was characterized as serving Hamas propaganda goals by generating sympathy in the West and anger toward Israel.
The investigation quoted historian and photography expert Gerhard Paul, who told the Süddeutsche Zeitung: "In southern Gaza, Hamas exercises complete control over image production." Soon after the Bild investigation was published, several European news agencies cut ties with Fteiha.
Conclusion
The evidence presented reveals that Anadolu Agency has evolved far beyond its original mandate as Turkey's state news service into a sophisticated propaganda apparatus that poses significant concerns for Western democratic societies. Under state control, AA has cultivated relationships with designated terrorist organizations, employed personnel with terror connections, and weaponized journalism to advance Turkey's geopolitical and ideological objectives.
Perhaps most troubling is AA's deliberate targeting of American audiences through substantial social media platforms that lack proper state-media transparency labeling, creating a direct vector for Turkish government propaganda to influence U.S. public opinion while masquerading as legitimate journalism. Combined with AA's documented promotion of anti-American narratives and its staff's active participation in terrorist propaganda operations, these findings suggest a coordinated effort to undermine Western interests and democratic values that requires U.S. policymakers and social media platforms to recognize AA not as a conventional news organization but as an arm of Turkish state influence operations requiring appropriate regulatory oversight and transparency measures.
Read the full comprehensive report with detailed sourcing and additional findings at this link.