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Verification platform Teyit, which has been fighting against the problem of misinformation on the internet since 2016, won the Highest Impact Award in Global Fact with its research titled "What is known about the claim that the Palestinian people sold land?" The 11th summit, held regularly every year by the International Fact Check Network, was held on 26-28 June in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina.​

TURKEY - With the proliferation of digital, it takes only a few seconds to access information, while the spread of misinformation is triggered at the same speed. The International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), which was established to support fact-checkers in the global fight against the pool of misinformation in the world, held the 11th edition of Global Fact, which has been organised annually since 2014, in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. More than 500 verification organisations from all over the world attended the summit held on 26-28 June. At the award ceremony, where 113 applications were made in four categories, the verification platform Teyit won the Highest Impact Award with its research titled 'What is known about the allegation that the Palestinian people sold land?

"This award showed the importance of looking at issues from different perspectives"

As one of the historical problems and allegations related to the Israeli - Palestinian conflict, the author of the research text on the issue of the Palestinian people selling their land, which has recently come to the world agenda again, Öykitçi Öyküm Hüma Keskin made the following statement on the subject: "After the war between Israel and Palestine started, discourses such as "Palestinians have already sold their land, what is happening today is deserved" made us feel that we, as the editorial team, should focus on this issue. While researching this claim, we knew that we would not be able to reach a definite conclusion, such as true or false, but there was much to be told. The fact that this research was deemed worthy of the award showed us once again the power of looking at the issue from different perspectives and being impartial. I would like to thank the fact-checkers around the world for recognising us with this award, and all my teammates who made it possible for me to write this article."

According to the study, land sales are not directly related to the establishment of the State of Israel

Öyküm Hüma Keskin, Verifier Öyküm Hüma Keskin, who found that land sales were not directly related to the establishment of the State of Israel, states in her research that the data shows that at the time of the establishment of Israel, only 6 to 7 per cent of land ownership belonged to Jews and that the majority of it was under the auspices of Arab communities. The main reason for the expansion of Jewish settlement is not that Palestinians voluntarily sold their land, but that Palestinians were forced to leave their homes en masse due to attacks.

"We tried to understand one of the most important urban myths"

Emre İlkan Saklıca, who received the award on behalf of Teyit at Global Fact 11, where more than 60 sessions were held around six themes, said about the research: "With this article, we tried to understand one of the most important urban legends about that conflict." Having achieved another success with its research on 'the allegation that Palestinians sold land', teyit.org has been analysing suspicious information on the internet since 2016 and conducting training activities to improve digital literacy and critical thinking skills. By bringing together different actors, it contributes to the development of sustainable solutions to the problem of misinformation.