Social network users have been spreading news that Western countries allegedly knew about the upcoming earthquake in Türkiye and therefore evacuated their diplomats.
Faktyoxla Lab. has decided to check if this version is true.
The post shows a tweet by US conspiracy theorist David Wolfe that says Canada, the United States, Britain, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Holland and France "pulled their ambassadors out of Türkiye 24 hours before the earthquake".
“List of countries that pulled their ambassadors out of Türkiye 24 hours before the earthquake,” reads part of a tweet that names Canada, the United States, Britain, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Holland and France. (source) (source)
The claim feeds into baseless online narratives that the deadly Türkiye-Syria earthquake was man-made.
Three days before the devastating quake the ambassadors of nine Western countries including the United States, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Britain and the Netherlands, attended a meeting at Türkiye’s foreign ministry, following their decisions to temporarily shut diplomatic missions in Turkey or issue security alerts after Koran-burning incidents in Europe.
The online claims may have been inspired by this news, but this meeting took place in Türkiye.
Similar posts circulated around the world, including in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Britain, racking up thousands of shares.
Some Facebook users appeared to link the claim to conspiracy theories that the 7.8-magnitude tremor that killed more than 50,000 people in Türkiye and Syria was man-made.
Türkiye is one of the world's most active earthquake zones. A combination of factors made February's tremor particularly deadly, including its timing, location and the weak construction of the collapsed buildings, according to experts.
Several posts mentioned the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP), a US research station that has been falsely blamed for the tragedy.
"USA also issued terrorist warnings for Turkey. They have equipment that can cause an earthquake. It's called HAARP," said one Facebook user.
The AFP fact-checking service requested comments from all the embassies mentioned in the conspiracy tweet. Answers were received from six of them (except the US and the UK): the ambassadors were in the capital of Türkiye, Ankara, during the earthquake.
The US ambassador to Türkiye Jeffry Flake posted a photo of a half-mast US flag in an Instagram post on February 6 that tagged Ankara as the location at around 9:49 local time.
At around 12:07 am local time the next day, he appeared on CNN from Ankara and spoke to the host Jake Tapper about the quake.
Tweets from the UK ambassaor to Türkiye Jill Morris also placed her in Türkiye around the time of the quake.
She tweeted a picture of her visit to the British Consulate-General in Istanbul on January 26, a post about the tremor at 8:07 am local time on February 6 - the day the quake hit - and a picture on February 13 showing her helping with donations in Ankara for people affected by the quake.
Thus, there are many inconsistencies in the conspiracy theory linking the evacuation of embassies and the earthquake. First, it was not the embassies that were closed, but the consulates. Secondly, nine diplomatic missions closed, and it is not clear why the author of the scandalous tweet forgot about Sweden and Switzerland, while adding Canada.
Thirdly, Istanbul, where the consulates are located, is much further from the earthquake zone than Ankara, where the ambassadors continued to work. Finally, there is evidence that the US and British ambassadors remained in Türkiye. But there are no arguments confirming the evacuation.
