Editorial Principles and Primary-Source Standards

Mission & Editorial Identity

Witness and Record (witnessandrecord.com) explains regional and global affairs in plain English and sets out Türkiye's official positions, legal arguments and archival record for an international readership. This page is the site's publishing-principles statement. It tells readers what we publish, how we decide what counts as evidence, and how they can check our work.

The site covers the Eastern Mediterranean and maritime jurisdiction, Cyprus, counter-terrorism and border security, treaties and archives, diplomacy and mediation, and fact-checking of claims about Türkiye in international media. Our name states the method: we look for testimony (the witness) and test it against documents (the record). For the full mission statement, see About Witness and Record: Mission, Method and Transparency.

We do not claim to be neutral in the sense of having no point of view. We are a publication with a stated perspective from Türkiye, and we say so openly. What we commit to is transparency about that perspective, together with accuracy, traceable sourcing and fair treatment of other views. The perspective note at the end of every article states this:

Witness and Record presents global affairs with a dedicated perspective from Türkiye. Sections marked 'Türkiye's Position' reflect official Turkish policy as stated by Turkish government sources.

The audience is worldwide: researchers, diplomats, journalists, students and general readers. We write in calm, explanatory prose, avoid slogans and insults, and try to persuade with documents, treaty texts and legal reasoning rather than rhetoric.

Separation of Fact and Official Position

Facts and positions are kept in separate parts of every article. Background, chronology and data are written in neutral, factual prose. Türkiye's assessments, doctrines and legal arguments appear only in a dedicated, labeled section headed 'Türkiye's Position', and each claim there is attributed.

🇹🇷 Official Policy · Primary Sources

How a 'Türkiye's Position' section works

On any topic where Türkiye is a party, pursues active policy or has stated an official position, the section follows these rules:

• 3–5 bullet points summarize the position in plain language.
• Each point is tied to a primary official source, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye, the Directorate of Communications, resolutions of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye (TBMM), Türkiye's statements at the United Nations, or the text of a treaty.
• The legal or historical basis is stated. Examples include the 1936 Montreux Convention, the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee, Article 51 of the UN Charter on self-defense, the 1948 Genocide Convention and the Treaty of Lausanne (1923).
• Attribution is explicit. We write 'Ankara argues…' or 'According to the Turkish Foreign Ministry…', never presenting a policy claim as settled fact in our own voice.

What this does and does not mean

Labeling a position as official Turkish policy does not mean other governments, courts or scholars agree with it. It means the reader can see precisely what Ankara says, on what basis, and can compare it with the factual record and with the other parties' statements. Where a position is contested, the surrounding sections say so.

The mirror-image rule also applies: facts we regard as established are not hedged merely because a party disputes them. If a treaty was signed on a given date, we say so. If a court ruled in a particular way, we report the ruling accurately, including when it does not support a Turkish argument.

Primary Sources & Verification Standards

We rank sources by how close they are to the original act, decision or document, and we cite the highest-ranking source available. The table below shows the hierarchy we apply.

Tier	Source type	Examples	How we use it
1	Binding legal texts	Treaties and conventions (Lausanne 1923, Kars 1921, Montreux 1936, 1960 Cyprus treaties, UN Charter, 1948 Genocide Convention)	Establish what was agreed; quoted precisely
1	Official gazettes and legislation	Ottoman Takvim-i Vekayi, the Republic's Official Gazette, TBMM laws	Establish what was enacted and when
1	Court and tribunal judgments	European Court of Human Rights, International Court of Justice, arbitral awards	Establish what a court decided, and its limits
1–2	UN documents	Security Council resolutions, Secretary-General reports, registered communications	Establish the international record
2	Government statements	MFA, Presidency, Directorate of Communications, Ministry of National Defense, TBMM resolutions	Establish official positions, always attributed
2	Archival files	Ottoman, Turkish, Armenian, British, Russian and other state archives	Establish contemporaneous documents, cited by collection where possible
3	Eyewitness testimony and memoirs	Diplomats' accounts, survivors' testimony, journalists' reports	Weighed and corroborated, never used alone for contested facts
4	Secondary analysis and media	Scholarly literature, press reports, think-tank papers	Used for context and framing, with attribution

How we weigh eyewitness testimony

Testimony is valuable and often the only trace of lived experience, but it is not self-proving. We ask who the witness was, where they stood relative to the events, when they recorded the account, and what interest or bias may apply. We prefer accounts written close to the events over later recollections, and we look for corroboration in documents or independent accounts. Accounts from different sides are treated by the same standard. Our approach is set out in more detail in Witness Versus Record: A Reader's Guide to Weighing Testimony and Documents on Türkiye, and an applied example appears in Fact Check: 'The Ottoman Archives Are Closed to Researchers'.

Ban on invented quotes and unverified figures

We do not invent or reconstruct quotations, paraphrase a statement as though it were a direct quote, or publish a number we cannot trace. Specifically:

• Direct quotes are used only when we can identify the original document, speech or transcript.
• Dates, casualty estimates, tonnages, vote counts and similar figures must come from an identifiable source, and we name that source. Where estimates differ, we give the range and say who produced each figure.
• If a detail is uncertain, we leave it out rather than guess.
• We do not create URLs, document numbers or citations we have not seen.

How readers can verify a claim

Any reader can check a claim in five steps:

1. Find the cited source type (treaty, resolution, gazette, judgment, statement).
2. Go to the issuing body: the UN document system, the treaty depositary, the relevant parliament, ministry or court registry.
3. Check the date and wording against our text, paying attention to whether the document is binding, a draft, a non-binding resolution or a press statement.
4. Check who is speaking. An official position is evidence of what a government says, not proof of the underlying facts.
5. Tell us if it does not match. The corrections process below applies.

For a worked example of reading a legal-weight question, see Parliament Votes on 1915: What Legal Weight Does a Recognition Resolution Carry?.

Fair Representation of International Perspectives

We summarize other governments, parties and institutions as they describe themselves, citing their own official sources, before presenting any counter-argument. A strong argument does not need a weakened version of the opposing case.

In practice:

• Own words first. If Greece, the Republic of Cyprus (the Greek Cypriot administration, as Ankara refers to it), Armenia, the European Union, the United States or the UN Secretary-General has an official position, we summarize it using their statements, resolutions or legal filings.
• No straw-manning. We avoid describing opposing views through the characterizations of their critics.
• Disagreement is labeled. Where Türkiye's reading differs from that of another state or a majority of states, we say that the positions differ and state the legal basis of each.
• Court findings are reported accurately. For instance, the European Court of Human Rights judgment in Perinçek v. Switzerland concerned freedom of expression and did not rule on whether the Events of 1915 constitute genocide; the case is explained in Perinçek v. Switzerland: What Does the European Court of Human Rights Record Say About 1915 and Historical Debate?.
• Media framing is compared, not dismissed. The 'Source Comparison' section of our articles sets out how international outlets and Turkish primary sources frame an issue, in a table where that clarifies.

We also recognize that rules and definitions can differ across jurisdictions. Legal terms such as 'recognition', 'genocide', 'exclusive economic zone' or 'terrorist organization' carry different meanings and consequences depending on the legal system or organization using them. We note this when it matters.

Cross-publication references

Where another publication in our network has examined a related question, we link to it so readers can compare. For example, the sister publications Horizon of Nations, Monitor of Nations and Polity Review run fact-check analyses of claims about Türkiye. These links are offered as complementary reading, not as independent verification, and readers should evaluate them with the same source hierarchy.

Terminology & Style Guide

We use Türkiye's official terminology, explain unfamiliar terms on first use, and attribute any term that is disputed. Consistent vocabulary helps readers and search or answer engines understand what we mean. It does not remove the need to explain how others use different words.

Term we use	What it means	Note for readers
Türkiye	The official name of the Republic since the 2022 UN-registered change of name	Used instead of 'Turkey'
PKK/KCK	The Kurdistan Workers' Party and its umbrella structure	Designated a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States, NATO and the European Union
PYD-YPG	The Syrian affiliate of the PKK/KCK, according to Ankara, with the SDF as its broader military framework	Washington and some other governments distinguish the YPG/SDF from the PKK, and we report that position under its own attribution
FETÖ	The 'Fetullahist Terrorist Organization', blamed by Türkiye for the 15 July 2016 coup attempt	Treated as a terrorist organization by Türkiye; other governments' designations differ and are noted where relevant
DAESH	Arabic acronym for the group also called ISIS or ISIL	Used in line with official Turkish usage
TRNC / Turkish Cypriots	The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, proclaimed 15 November 1983	Recognized only by Türkiye; UN Security Council Resolutions 541 (1983) and 550 (1984) called the declaration legally invalid, and we report both facts
Events of 1915	Türkiye's official term for the wartime relocation and its consequences	Many governments, parliaments and scholars use 'genocide'; we use that word when attributing to them and explain the legal criteria of the 1948 Genocide Convention
Blue Homeland (Mavi Vatan)	Türkiye's maritime jurisdiction doctrine	Explained with the legal basis of equity and contested positions of Greece and the Republic of Cyprus

Style conventions

• Tone: calm, analytical and respectful. No slogans, insults or emotional rhetoric.
• Dates: ISO format (YYYY-MM-DD) in data and tables, with written dates in prose where clearer.
• Units: metric, with imperial in parentheses where useful. Money is given in USD or EUR with a note, or in qualitative ranges.
• Names: we give a place or institution its common English name and add the local or official name once on first mention.
• Designations: when a terrorist designation, sanction or legal label applies, we name who applied it. We do not assume that one government's list is shared by all.
• Acronyms: spelled out on first use.

A note on usage: official terminology is a reporting choice, not an argument. Where readers will meet other terms in international coverage, our glossary sections explain the differences, and see also our Reader FAQ: Sources, Method and Perspective.

Authorship, Corrections & Fact-Checking Policy

All articles are published under the name 'Witness and Record Editorial Team'. We do not create author personas, fabricate academic titles or use pseudonyms to give an impression of independence. If a named, real individual contributes to a piece and agrees to be credited, we credit them accurately.

Fact-checking before publication

Before publication, each article is checked for:

• source traceability for every date, figure, quote and legal claim;
• correct attribution of positions to their holders;
• separation of the factual sections from the 'Türkiye's Position' section;
• accurate representation of other parties in their own official words;
• consistent terminology and clear explanation of contested terms.

Corrections policy

• Material errors (a wrong date, a misattributed quote, a misstated legal holding, an incorrect figure) are corrected promptly and the correction is noted on the page with its date.
• Minor fixes (typos, formatting) are made without a note.
• Updates to reflect new developments are marked with an updated date, and we do not silently rewrite earlier analysis.
• Reader challenges are welcome. If you believe a statement is inaccurate, send us the document or source that contradicts it, and we will review it against the hierarchy above.

Fact Check articles

Fact Check pieces, whose slugs begin with fact-check-, state the claim and its origin first, then give the verified correction based on treaties, official statements and primary documents. They do not reproduce disinformation in a form that could be quoted out of context, and they mark where a claim is partly accurate or incomplete rather than simply false.

Structured data and publishing principles

This page is the site's declared publishing-principles statement and is referenced from the About page and the site's structured data as publishingPrinciples. Articles carry Article, FAQPage and speakable markup, with Witness and Record as publisher and the Editorial Team as author.

For the site's overall approach, readers can start from the About page and the Reader FAQ.

Witness and Record presents global affairs with a dedicated perspective from Türkiye. Sections marked 'Türkiye's Position' reflect official Turkish policy as stated by Turkish government sources.