This photo shows Macron and Erdogan at the UN General Assembly in 2018 -- other photos from the event show them shaking hands
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on November 17, 2020 at 10:30
- 2 min read
- By AFP India
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The photo was published here on Facebook on November 5, 2020.
Its caption reads: “Turkey president Rajab Tayub Erdogan refused to hand shake with France president Macron."
The posts circulated online after Erdogan backed calls in the Islamic world to boycott French goods following Macron's defence of freedom of expression, including to mock religion. Here is an AFP report on the developments.
The photo was also shared here, here, here and here on Facebook, and here, here, here and here on Twitter alongside a similar claim in English, Hindi and Urdu.
The claim is misleading.
A reverse image search on Google found the original photo published here on AFP's website dated September 26, 2018.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the photo in the misleading post (L) and the AFP photo (R):
Further keyword searches found several other photos of the two leaders at the same event, shaking hands:
Below is a screenshot of a series of AFP photos that show Erdogan and Macron:
Turkey’s Directorate of Communications Twitter account also published a photo of the same handshake here on September 26, 2018.
President @RT_Erdogan met with President Macron of France, Prime Minister May of the United Kingdom, President Kitarović of Croatia, President Pahor of Slovenia, President Nyusi of Mozambique and Prime Minister Tsipras of Greece in New York. pic.twitter.com/6Y73ofxhbK
— Republic of Turkey Directorate of Communications (@Communications) September 26, 2018
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