Since Sunday’s elections, Türkiye has been subjected to a disinformation campaign led by the opposition over a so-called manipulation attempt, but it’s entirely wrong and an usurpation of the Turkish people’s will, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) spokesperson Ömer Çelik said Monday.

With Türkiye heading into a presidential runoff in less than two weeks after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan fell just short of securing a first-round win ahead of his closest rival Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the opposition has been spreading the claim that they were "winning by a crushing landslide" despite contrary information from the official election body.

From the early hours of vote counting, Istanbul and Ankara Mayors Ekrem Imamoğlu and Mansur Yavaş, from Kılıçdaroğlu’s Republican People's Party (CHP), went on live television and took to social media platforms to lead "an antidemocratic campaign," claiming Kılıçdaroğlu was "winning" and "trying to suppress any debate and objections to their fait accompli," Çelik told reporters at a news conference following a meeting at AK Party offices in Ankara.

He accused the two mayors, who would become vice presidents to Kılıçdaroğlu if the opposition were to win, of "attacking" state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) and other news outlets with claims of "manipulating data."

"The only source of misinformation that day was the CHP headquarters," Çelik stressed. "They gave information from a single source while everyone was trying to share whatever information they had as accurately as possible."

"While they were attacking AA and the AK Party, everyone saw it was Imamoğlu and Yavaş’s remarks that were manipulative. They proved it themselves when they began releasing lists of bureaucrats they would remove and saying, ‘We’re speaking on behalf of the 13th Turkish President Kılıçdaroğlu before results were even called."

They showed a complete disregard for the national will by attempting to prematurely declare the president and assigning themselves the authority to speak on his behalf, Çelik explained. "For this disrespect, they owe our people an apology."

According to the AK Party spokesperson, the opposition side later "backtracked" and claimed they had been "expressing their wishes," but it was "one of the most striking examples of disrespecting the people’s will."

He reiterated that the AK Party and its three partners in the People's Alliance would "resolutely accept whatever comes out of the ballot box."

"We have repeatedly called for them to respect the process and the result, and we have protected this principle until the very end," Çelik noted.

He slammed the six-party opposition helmed by the CHP for failing to have a "consistent political approach." He argued, "Despite the refutation of their false claims and manipulated data, they continued blaming us. This proves one thing clearly; how imposing they are in terms of their relationship to democracy bursts out into the open at the first sign of congestion despite all this talk of democracy."

He further stressed, "This has also shown Türkiye has a strong immune system against dozens of external attempts to influence the national will."

Erdoğan himself often denounces "outside forces" and "imperialists" working to interfere in Turkish democracy and unseat him by using Kılıçdaroğlu as "a pawn."

Çelik continued: "Not one citizen has lost. Unfortunately, we see some people trying to paint a bleak picture about our country regarding election results, but this pessimism and black propaganda are unimportant when the time comes."

"What matters is the power of democracy," he concluded.

‘Flawless service’

AA's Chairperson and General Manager Serdar Karagöz responded to accusations hurled at the agency by revealing the agency would sue "everyone accusing us of being manipulative and spreading disinformation."

"People in this country are working carefully, doing their jobs properly. That’s the kind of institution Anadolu Agency is," Karagöz told private Turkish broadcaster Habertürk in an interview on Monday evening.

He added that all of Türkiye witnessed AA doing its duty "properly," he said. "Some politicians may have displayed this behavior to mobilize and motivate their supporters that night, but we have seen that these do not reflect the truth."

Praising the 300-strong staff’s meticulousness in parsing through outpouring data from the field before relaying it live to subscribers, Karagöz stressed, "We have done our job thoroughly and flawlessly, and I’m proud of our 2,500 reporters in the field that day."

Referring to the outburst from the opposition, he said, "Today is May 15. That politician claiming the reputation of an agency Mustafa Kemal Atatürk entrusted to us is in shambles should reconsider the matter and see if it’s AA's reputation or the reputation of those politicians uttering these remarks baselessly. Let our people decide."

"We have emerged from this election with our heads held high. We are not embarrassed, but we have embarrassed those making such claims," he said.

Quelling disinformation

The Presidency's Directorate of Communications too stepped in early on Tuesday to counter rampant disinformation on some media organs and social media platforms.

Claims such as "unsealed ballot bags are spotted in a school in the Van province" citing blurry footage or that "the stamp of the ballot box committee’s on the back of the ballot renders it invalid" are "all attempts to manipulate the vote," the directorate said in its weekly bulletin.

"The stamp or another misprint is not considered a mark that would invalidate the vote," it said.

The directorate dispelled a rumor on social media that police officers removed poll observers from the room and assured that the Directorate General of Security had confirmed such an incident "never took place."

Another claim was police officers collected the names and phone numbers of ballot box committee members, which the directorate refuted by explaining that security forces were allowed to ask for the members’ numbers in case of an emergency.

"A routine procedure that happens every election was twisted and serviced," the directorate said.

It also dismissed the allegations of "darkening" the live broadcast of a pro-opposition network, Halk TV, during the elections.

"The Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) has affirmed no administrative or technical interference was made in Halk TV’s broadcast," it said.