Turkey's Erdogan says Ronaldo punished for his pro-Palestine stand

In a match against Switzerland during the recently concluded FIFA World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo was benched for most of the time. This became a news for sporting reasons, but Erdogan has given a political angle to the event.

New Delhi, Dec 29: Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who aspires to be the next Khalifa, has again come with his conspiracy theory and this time, he raked up the name of ace footballer Cristiano Ronaldo. In a match against Switzerland during the recently concluded FIFA World Cup, Ronaldo was benched for most of the time. This became a news for sporting reasons, but Erdogan has given a political angle to the event.

In an interview, the Turkish dictator said that Ronaldo and Portugal's performance during the FIFA World Cup in Qatar got affected due to the benching of Ronaldo. Erdogan also claimed that Ronaldo was subjected to a 'political ban' as he, according to him, supported the Palestinian cause.

Talking to Islamist propaganda news channel 'Al-Jazeera', Erdogan said, "They have wasted Ronaldo. Unfortunately, they have imposed a political ban on him."

Creating unnecessary propaganda

There was no counter question on what Erdogan's conspiracy theory was based on. In fact, Al-Jazeera allowed him to tell the lies, especially when he said that Ronaldo is someone who stands for the Palestinian cause. There is no such evidence that shows that Ronaldo ever supported Palestine or made any statement for them in any manner.

However, for Erdogan's politics, it suits him to raise issues that don't exist and build conspiracy theories that don't have an iota of truth in it. In this case also, Erdogan gave no evidence for his claim, which seems to be based on fake news and memes where Ronaldo has been shown supporting Palestine, carrying placards with 'Together with the Palestinians' in Spanish written on them.

Peddling fake news

Pro-Palestine propaganda thrives on fake news and Erdogan seems to be a willing partner in the crime. Needless to say, there have been several instances before as well when Ronaldo's name came in where pro-Palestine propagandists used his image. One such case came in when the news about donation of $1.59 million to Palestinians was made viral. However, later it was fact-checked and it came out that the news was fake.

Ironically, the Turkish government under Erdogan has brought in an anti-fake news law which prescribes severe punishment for spreading bogus news. However, it's also a fact that Turkey is a favourite land for conspiracy theories fabricated to suit the agendas. Needless to say, although the FIFA World Cup is over the conspiracy theories are not over yet.