Associated Incidents
Muharrem Ince quits
Turkish presidential candidate Muharrem Ince withdrew from the race after an alleged sex tape circulated online. Ince claims it's a deepfake using footage from "an Israeli porn site."
Ince, a two-time presidential candidate who also lost to Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2018, pulled his candidacy just days away from Turkey's most consequential election in a generation saying: "I offered Turkey a third option, a third way. We couldn't succeed."
Deepfake videos have been a key part of Turkey's 45-day election cycle. Erdogan played a deepfake that claimed to show banned Kurdish militants declaring their support for his main rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu at a pre-election rally last weekend.
The election is bitter and extremely close and could end Erdogan’s long authoritarian rule. His problem is that his economy is in tatters and mostly propped up with Russian money. There was also a terrible earthquake with a high body count which managed to show up the corruption and divisions in Turkey.
"What I have seen in these last 45 days, I have not seen in 45 years," said Ince.