Turkey’s official disinformation watchdog has flatly rejected viral claims that a submarine fired missiles off the Karpasia peninsula, saying the footage that spread widely on social media does not show what it purports to.
The Disinformation Monitoring and Assessment Centre (DMM), which operates under Turkey’s Presidency Directorate of Communications, said no missile launch had taken place in Turkish territorial waters or in what Turkey refers to as the territorial waters of the “TRNC.” After reviewing the images, the centre said the launches visible in the video occurred in international waters, not in the area claimed.
The DMM urged the public to disregard what it described as unfounded and misleading posts designed to manipulate public opinion, and to rely solely on official statements from competent authorities.
The claim had circulated on Turkish accounts on X, with posts alleging that multiple missiles had been launched from a submarine within “TRNC territorial waters” off Karpasia — footage reportedly captured by a Turkish Cypriot fisherman. The video spread quickly across Turkish Cypriot and Turkish media outlets.
The website Kıbrıs Postası, citing what it described as reliable Turkish military sources, had also reported that the footage was captured outside “TRNC territorial waters” in international waters.
The same sources were quoted as saying that the activities of a “floating vessel” off the coast had taken place in international waters, beyond the territorial waters of both the “TRNC” and Turkey.