Ties to Terrorists, the IRGC, and Turkish Intelligence? Introducing TRT World
An exclusive report from Jewish Onliner examines the Turkish state broadcaster's international operations and uncovers staff with apparent ties to Hamas, the IRGC, and Turkish intelligence
Turkey's state broadcaster, the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT), reaches 260 million households worldwide through its international arms—particularly TRT Arabi and TRT World—positioning itself as a credible news source in Western markets. But a new investigation by Jewish Onliner reveals that the network has become a nexus for individuals with documented ties to Hamas, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and Turkish intelligence services.
TRT has provided a platform to Hamas officials, including airing an exclusive interview with senior Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in November 2023, allowing him to outline Hamas's "resistance" agenda to a broader audience. The network also routinely features commentators sympathetic to Hamas. The Stockholm-based Nordic Monitor has documented how TRT repackages anti-Israel rhetoric as journalism, amplifying Hamas narratives while contextualizing the group's violence. TRT Arabi routinely posts content glorifying Hamas, such as an animated video depicting former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar as a heroic “martyr” in Gaza.
In a statement to Jewish Onliner, Nordic Monitor Executive Director Abdullah Bozkurt explained that TRT “has long abandoned its role as an independent public service outlet and now operates as a propaganda arm of President Erdoğan’s Islamist government.” “Rather than serving the public interest, it systematically spreads disinformation and conspiracy theories to manipulate public opinion, fuel anti-Western sentiment, and promote antisemitism,” he continued.
“Following the mass purge in 2016 after the staged coup attempt, TRT recruited Islamist figures with jihadist views, including those sympathetic to Iran’s clerical regime, further entrenching its role as a vehicle for ideological indoctrination,” Bozkurt concluded.
Key TRT Personnel With Concerning Ties
According to findings from Nordic Monitor, Fatih Er, TRT World's News Director, was allegedly named as a suspect in a Turkish probe investigating ties to the IRGC Quds Force. Wiretapped in 2013 for alleged links to Iran-backed networks, Er was also involved with IHH, an Islamist charity with alleged links to Turkish intelligence and Al-Qaeda. Though never formally charged, his appointment to lead TRT World's news operations has raised significant security concerns.
Nordic Monitor's investigative report also revealed that Enes Adli, the network's Washington Bureau Chief, signed U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) documents claiming TRT engaged in no political activity on behalf of Turkey—a claim disputed by watchdogs given the broadcaster's clear alignment with Ankara's viewpoints and sympathetic treatment of Hamas. According to the report, his filings may have misled U.S. regulators.
Rumeysa Kalın Karabulut, a TRT reporter and daughter of Turkey's intelligence chief İbrahim Kalın, represents another connection between the broadcaster and intelligence networks. In a separate FARA filing dated January 26, 2025, Saltzman & Evinch — a law firm that provides lobbying services for the Turkish government and handles legal representation for its Washington embassy — reported earning $50,000 from the Turkish Embassy between July and December 2024. The firm has a standing $1.5 million contract with the embassy. Among its notable alumni is Karabulut, who previously worked at the firm as a law clerk and has been employed by TRT in Turkey since 2019.
TRT Staff With Apparent Hamas Ties
TRT's Gaza-based correspondents have been found to have familial ties with Hamas and have associated with or given public statements of support to the U.S.-designated terrorist organization:
Sami Barhoom, a TRT Arabi correspondent, has documented meetings with Hamas leadership. Barhoom's social media shows a photo from 2019 of him meeting with former Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh.
After Haniyeh's elimination in Tehran in 2024, Barhoom reposted the photo praising him. More damning are Barhoom's direct familial ties to Hamas. Following Israel's November 2024 elimination of Ala'a and Baha'a Barhoum, sons of senior Hamas figure Fawzi Barhoum who were delivering salaries to Hamas personnel, Sami Barhoom mourned them as "martyrs" and "cousins" on social media. Sami Barhoom also posted a photo of himself next to Fawzi Barhoom, further solidifying their connection.
A previous Jewish Onliner investigation revealed that Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Ali Hamad identified Alaa as a "media cadre of Hamas" and Baha as a "Qassam martyr," indicating that he was likely a member of Hamas's military wing. Alaa was even cited as working in "Ismail Haniyeh's media office" and attended a meeting with the Popular Resistance Committees, Gaza's third-largest terror group.
Sami Shehadeh, a TRT Arabi cameraman, has posted photos of himself happily posing next to armed members of Hamas's military wing and has praised Haniyeh and Ahmed Jarrar, who led the terror cell responsible for murdering Rabbi Raziel Shevach in 2018. His social media includes an image of Palestinian protesters holding a swastika-adorned kite.
Hossam Salem, who works as a cameraman for TRT Arabi and has worked as a photojournalist for Al Jazeera and New York Times, has an extensive history of celebrating terror attacks on social media. The watdhcog group Honest Reporting found that he praised the 2011 Jerusalem bus bombing that killed British student Mary Jane Gardner, expressed joy over the 2014 Har Nof synagogue massacre, applauded 2015 terror attacks, and repeatedly eulogized suicide bombers responsible for the 2004 Ashdod port attack that killed ten workers. On October 7, 2023, Salem posted "O writer of history: The youth are taking a stroll around the country," seemingly in support of the Hamas massacre.
Editorial Alignment with Terrorist Narratives
Under government control since a 2018 presidential decree, TRT consistently frames Hamas as a "resistance" group rather than acknowledging its terrorist designation by the U.S., EU, and other Western nations. This editorial stance reflects Turkey's broader foreign policy alignment, with President Erdoğan refusing to designate Hamas as a terrorist organization and even offering the group significant direct support.
Influence on American Audiences
TRT World – the network’s English-language arm – has invested heavily in reaching Western markets. By 2019, it was available to 260 million households worldwide, including U.S. cable systems. In the U.S., it is registered under FARA as foreign state media. Critics and analysts have described it as equivalent to Russia’s RT, China’s CGTN, or Qatar’s Al-Jazeera.
TRT World maintains an impressive presence on social media platforms, with nearly 10 million subscribers on YouTube, 5.7 million likes on Facebook, 3.2 million followers on Instagram, 2.1 million followers on TikTok, and 666 thousand followers on X (all as of August 2025). However, the only prominent social media platform to attach a “state-controlled media” label to TRT World for American users is YouTube. For example, while Facebook and Instagram (both owned by Meta) attach the label to the China Global Television Network’s (CGTN) pages, it has not attached it to TRT World’s.
The absence of such labels prevents people from understanding the source of the news they are consuming and the agenda it is aimed at promoting.
The network's employment of personnel who appear to have ties the IRGC, Turkish intelligence, and U.S.-designated terror groups — while maintaining this extensive Western reach and succeeding in injecting Ankara's narratives into policy and activist discourse — raises serious questions about broadcast licensing and national security oversight.
TRT World’s Anti-American Content
TRT World, which seeks to shape perceptions among Western audiences, particularly in the United States, often promotes narratives that can be described as anti-American, portraying the country as deeply racist and oppressive, or as inflammatory, stoking existing social divisions and contentious debates.
For example, in June 2024, TRT World posted that: “Oscar-nominated Lily Gladstone is pleased that Indigenous people are getting better representation on the silver screen but warns there is an ‘ongoing genocide’ of Native Americans that must be addressed.”
In addition, TRT World has created videos about “how systemic racism in the US impacts the health of Black patients.” Relatedly, TRT World has published which argued that “Addressing racism in the US begins with atoning for past sins. Repatriations for slavery and levelling the playing field between the races are the only ways racism can ever be ‘solved.’”
Read the full comprehensive report with detailed sourcing and additional findings at this link.