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Verification platform Teyit examined Soner Yalçın's book “Kara Kutu: Yüzleşme Vakti” based on modern medicine and anti-vaccination. Teyit shared the plagiarism, misinformation and the data detached from the context with expert opinions and scientific data with his readers in his publication with the label "# SalgınVar" on Sunday.

*** This release is originally published in Turkish.
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ISTANBUL (TR) - ISTANBUL, 18 March 2020 / B2Press / - The independent verification platform, Teyit published the work titled “SalgınVar”, in which they examined the allegations of Soner Yalcın in the book “Kara Kutu: Yüzleşme Vakti” that threaten public health. The Platform examined the book, which sparked controversy over modern medicine and anti-vaccination, with a special team of 13 people in a period of about 3 months. The examinations were conducted with expert opinions and scientific data, based on a certain method.

Soner Yalçın's book, which has long been on Turkey's bestseller list, included topics such as antidepressants, drugs, the harms of vaccines, the relationship between vaccines and autism, homoeopathy.

More than 200 allegations of Soner Yalçın were examined

Within the scope of the review, the Teyit team grouped more than 200 allegations from the book and the television programs that Soner Yalçın participated in, according to their topics under 10 titles: Vaccines, nonsense and conspiracy theories, citation and plagiarism, anti-capitalism, antidepressants, homoeopathy, medicines and finally medical education. As a result of the study, more than 60 reviews were prepared on these eight topics based on expert opinion and scientific data. The entire study was published in a microsite at salginvar.teyit.org, which is separate from the main site where Teyit publishes, in order to ensure that the readers can focus on this issue alone and ensure the integrity of the subject.

As a result of the reviews made by Teyit, it was also revealed that Soner Yalçın made quotes from 30 different sources in this book without reference. These are some of the allegations determined to be false in the #SalgınVar study: The claim that antidepressant use in pregnancy increases the risk of autism in the baby, the claim that drug side effects are fourth among the common causes of death in the United States, the claim that meningitis vaccine was added to the vaccine calendar in 2013, the claim that there is a mandatory vaccine application in Turkey.

Siegrist denies the allegations

In his book “Kara Kutu: Yüzleşme Vakti”, Soner Yalçın claims the Head of the Vaccination and Immunology Unit at the University of Geneva, Prof. Dr Claire-Anne Siegrist have written articles about the ineffectiveness of vaccines. The confirmation team reached out to the researcher, who is a member of the World Health Organization and is known to have dedicated his life to disseminating vaccines, received the following response from Siegrist: “I answer with great happiness that I have never said such a thing.”

"The aim is to pursue conspiracy theories presented as a whole"

“#SalgınVar: Get vaccinated against false information!" campaign was coordinated by Teyit's Chief Editor Gülin Çavuş and one of its editors Ali Osman Arabacı. He contributed with the writings of Alper Kurşunel, Anıl Doğruluk, Engin Karaman, Ezgi Toprak, Mahmut Tezcan, Mehmet Özer, Mert Can Yılmaz, Öyküm Hüma Keskin. Emre Saklıca and Nilgün Yılmaz were the editors. Microblogging graphics belong to Ahmet Fahri Küçük.

Gülin Çavuş, the chief editor of the Teyit team, who made evaluations about private work, said: “What matters to us was not the person who produced the wrong information, but the possible damages he could cause. What was troubling was the possibility that many claims could come out and lead to confusion. The urgency of the fight against the "disinformed", which can be described as a false information epidemic, is therefore evident. The main purpose of the "There is an Outbreak" study was to pursue false information, fallacies and conspiracy theories that were put in our book as if they were parts of a whole, but were actually in circulation for a long time. This makes the work more timeless and effective.”

Editor Ali Osman Arabacı said, “While we were pursuing the right information, we realized that the area where the wrong information had the opportunity to spread and where it could be quite effective was the world of books and literature. The words shared by attributing to the wrong people, waxing sentences circulating without resources, poems that were “made” to beloved characters or suspicious cases in the books were the creatures that we frequently encounter in the ocean of knowledge. Tracing the sentences and subjecting a book to the accuracy of the book is quite a lot of hard work. However, I think it is important that what we have done so far added to this field.”

Teyit team conducted a crowdfunding campaign for research

Community Editor Selin Yıldız said the following about the campaign, which was funded by its supporters and organized to create a sense of partnership: “We have made public support in December and asked our support through Fongogo for crowdfunding. 234 people answered the call we made within the scope of the campaign with financial support, during this period 19 thousand 150 liras were collected. The first mass campaign funding reaching for a specific work done and achievements in this field of journalism in Turkey.”

KONDA, the research company, also added questions to its routine surveys for the study, which it shared with confirmation for the first time, making it possible to gauge Turkey's attitude to mandatory vaccination. The results of this research can also be accessed from the study.

About Teyit

Established in 2016, Teyit aims to gain the critical thinking habit and increase new media literacy. Teyit, who shares with the readers whether the information on the internet is correct or not, tries to prevent disinformation with short documentary series on YouTube, short videos published in Istanbul public transportation vehicles, reports and researches he prepares. Teyit has proven to the International Fact-Checking Network - the International Integrity Control Network that it is impartial in its work, acts fairly, its resources, financial structure and organization are transparent, and its methodology is shared publicly. To reduce false news on the Facebook platform, making partnerships with Teyit in Turkey.