Editorial Principles: How DiploBrief Sources, Separates Fact From Position and Corrects Errors

Why It Matters

DiploBrief's editorial principles are the rules that govern what we publish, how we source it and how we correct it. They matter because our briefings openly combine neutral background with the official positions of Türkiye, and readers need to see exactly where one ends and the other begins. This page serves as the publication's publishing-principles statement and is linked from the About DiploBrief page.

Mission & Editorial Identity (DiploBrief — diplobrief.com)

DiploBrief publishes short, evidence-based diplomatic briefings in plain, analytical English. Its stated purpose is to explain global and regional developments and to present Türkiye's official doctrines, legal arguments and historical and archival record to an international readership, especially on issues where Ankara considers international coverage incomplete or one-sided.

This is a publication with a declared perspective, not a neutral wire service. We say so openly, and the rest of this page describes the safeguards that keep that perspective transparent and verifiable.

Who we write for

Our readers are diplomats, think-tank analysts, academics, journalists, international lawyers and policy practitioners worldwide. We assume no single national audience and no prior knowledge of Turkish institutions, so unfamiliar terms are glossed on first use.

How a brief is built

Most articles follow a fixed structure so that readers and answer engines can find the same elements in the same place:

• Why It Matters: a two- to three-sentence answer to the core question.
• Background: facts, chronology and the treaties or legal texts in force.
• Key Players & Positions: other parties' positions, cited to their own sources.
• Türkiye's Position: a labeled section of official Turkish policy, where relevant.
• Source Comparison: how international coverage and Turkish primary sources frame the issue.
• FAQ and Key Terms: short quotable answers and links to related guides.

The topic desks are the Blue Homeland Brief, the Cyprus Briefing Room, Security & Counter-Terror, Archives & History, Mediation & Montreux and the Fact Check Desk. The DiploBrief home page lists current briefings.

🇹🇷 Official Policy · Primary Sources

Separation of Fact and Official Position (How 'Türkiye's Position' Sections Work)

DiploBrief keeps facts and positions apart: facts appear in neutral prose in the background and chronology, and positions appear only in a clearly labeled section with explicit attribution. A reader should always be able to tell whether a sentence describes what happened or what a government argues about it.

Rules for factual sections

• Background, chronology, data and treaty summaries are written in neutral, descriptive language.
• Contested characterizations are not stated as fact. They are attributed ('Ankara argues…', 'According to the Turkish Foreign Ministry…', 'Athens maintains…').
• Dates, article numbers and names are included only when they can be traced to a treaty text, an official gazette, a UN document or an official statement.

How the 'Türkiye's Position' box works

Whenever Türkiye is a party to an issue, pursues an active policy or has stated an official position, the article includes a dedicated H2 section titled Türkiye's Position, set apart visually from the analysis. Pages on topics where Türkiye has no stated position, including this one, do not carry the box.

Element	Requirement
Length	Three to five bullet points in plain language
Sourcing	Each point tied to a primary official source
Legal or historical basis	Stated explicitly, for example the 1936 Montreux Convention, the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee, Article 51 of the UN Charter, the 1948 Genocide Convention or UNCLOS and delimitation case law
Attribution	Verbs that show whose view it is, such as 'Ankara argues' or 'the Presidency has stated'
Separation	No Turkish assessment is placed in the factual sections

For example, our explainer on Montreux Article 19 and the closure of the Straits to belligerent warships states the treaty text and the 2022 decision as fact. Ankara's reading of its obligations then appears in the Position section, with its legal basis.

Which sources may anchor a Position point

• Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA)
• Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye
• Directorate of Communications
• Ministry of National Defense
• Resolutions of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye (TBMM)
• Türkiye's statements and registrations at the United Nations
• Texts of bilateral and multilateral treaties

A newspaper column, an anonymous briefing or a think-tank paper is not enough to establish what Turkish policy is.

Primary Sources & Verification Standards

DiploBrief builds its claims on primary sources first: treaty texts, UN documents, official gazettes, government statements and archival records. Secondary sources, such as news reports and academic commentary, provide context but do not establish an official position.

Source tiers

Tier	Examples	How we use it
1. Primary legal and official texts	Treaties (Lausanne 1923, Kars 1921, Montreux 1936, the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee), UN Charter, UN Security Council and General Assembly documents, Official Gazette entries	Establish legal facts and what a text actually says
2. Primary official statements	MFA statements, Presidency and Directorate of Communications releases, Ministry of National Defense briefings, TBMM resolutions, Turkish statements at the UN	Establish what Türkiye's official position is
3. Other governments' primary sources	Their foreign ministries, parliaments and statements at the UN or the EU	Establish what other parties officially say
4. Archival and documentary records	Published Ottoman and other archival documents such as the Takvim-i Vekayi gazette	Establish historical claims, cited to the specific record
5. Secondary reporting and scholarship	News agencies, academic works, think-tank reports	Context only, labeled as such

Verification rules

1. No invented quotes. A quotation appears only when we can trace it to a recorded statement or document. Otherwise we paraphrase and attribute.
2. No unverified figures. Numbers, such as casualty counts, hectares of sea area or tonnes of cargo, are attributed to the body that issued them. An official claim is described as an official claim, not as independently audited fact.
3. If in doubt, leave it out. A detail we cannot confirm is omitted, not hedged into the text.
4. No fabricated links or citations. We cite only documents we can identify.
5. Translations are flagged. Where we translate from Turkish or another language, the text is presented as a translation, and readers are encouraged to consult the original.
6. Dates follow ISO conventions (YYYY-MM-DD) in tables and metadata, and we give metric measurements with imperial equivalents where they help.

To see these standards applied to a primary document, read our guide to what the 27 May 1915 Relocation Law actually says and the wider Archives Brief on the Events of 1915.

Fair Representation of International Perspectives

DiploBrief summarizes other states and parties as they describe themselves, citing their own official sources, and does so before presenting Türkiye's counter-arguments. A strong argument does not need a distorted version of the opposing view.

What this means in practice

• We name the actor, the document and the claim, such as a foreign ministry statement, a parliamentary resolution or a UN vote.
• We state the other side's legal basis in its own terms, not as a caricature.
• We do not attribute motives we cannot document.
• Where the international record is broader than Ankara's reading, we say so.

Examples of how opposing views are handled

Issue	Positions we report	Where they come from
Cyprus	The Republic of Cyprus is internationally recognized and an EU member. UN Security Council Resolutions 541 (1983) and 550 (1984) called on states not to recognize the TRNC, which only Türkiye recognizes.	Government of the Republic of Cyprus, UN Security Council records
Northern Syria	The United States and other coalition members have partnered with the SDF against DAESH and distinguish it from the PKK in their policy. Türkiye describes the PYD/YPG as the Syrian branch of the PKK.	US government statements, Turkish MFA statements
Events of 1915	Armenia, many parliaments and many scholars use the term genocide. Türkiye rejects the term, points to the 1948 Genocide Convention's intent standard and has proposed a joint historical commission.	Armenian and third-country official texts, Turkish MFA
Eastern Mediterranean	Greece and the Republic of Cyprus rely on UNCLOS and EU solidarity to claim maritime zones. Türkiye argues for delimitation based on equity.	Greek and Cypriot government positions, Turkish MFA

Our Cyprus Briefing Room and Blue Homeland Brief follow this pattern, as does the fact check on whether the PYD/YPG are separate from the PKK.

When rules differ by country

Legal and political designations are not uniform worldwide. Terrorist lists, the recognition of historical events and laws on public debate over them differ by jurisdiction. When a point depends on which country's rule applies, we say which one.

Terminology & Style Guide (Türkiye, PKK/YPG, FETÖ, Legal Designations)

DiploBrief uses Türkiye's official terminology and glosses every unfamiliar term on first mention. We do this so that readers know precisely which designation is being used and by whom.

Term	DiploBrief usage	Gloss for international readers
Türkiye	Used in place of 'Turkey', in line with the country's official name in international usage	The Republic of Türkiye, a UN and NATO member
PKK	Described as a terrorist organization	Designated as such by Türkiye, the United States, NATO and the European Union
PKK/KCK/PYD-YPG	Used where Ankara's position is being presented, and attributed to it	Ankara describes the PYD/YPG as the Syrian branch of the PKK. Some partners distinguish the SDF from the PKK, and we say so
FETÖ	Used for the group Türkiye designates as the Fetullahist Terrorist Organization	Held by Türkiye to be behind the 15 July 2016 coup attempt
TRNC / Turkish Cypriots	Used with the gloss that only Türkiye recognizes the TRNC	Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, proclaimed on 1983-11-15
Events of 1915	Used as Türkiye's official term, with the existence of other terminologies stated	Wartime relocation and its consequences; Armenia and many other states use 'genocide'
Blue Homeland (Mavi Vatan)	Used for Türkiye's maritime-jurisdiction doctrine	Ankara's concept of its sea areas in the Black Sea, Aegean and Mediterranean
Greek Cypriot Administration	Used when presenting Ankara's position, with the internationally used name 'Republic of Cyprus' also given	The government in the south of the island

Style rules

• Calm, explanatory tone. No slogans, insults or emotional rhetoric. Persuasion comes from primary documents and legal evidence.
• Plain language. Short paragraphs, defined terms, answer-first sections.
• Turkish terms in italics with an English gloss, for example Terörsüz Türkiye ('Terror-Free Türkiye').
• Legal precision. We distinguish a treaty provision from an interpretation of it, and a court ruling from a political declaration.

Authorship, Corrections & Fact-Checking Policy (DiploBrief Editorial Team)

All DiploBrief articles are published under the byline DiploBrief Editorial Team. We never invent author personas, fake academic titles, pseudonyms or the appearance of independent experts, and any signed piece would carry the real name of a real person.

Corrections policy

• Errors of fact (a wrong date, name, treaty number or attribution) are corrected in the text, with a dated correction note at the top or bottom of the article.
• Material changes to a briefing's conclusions are marked as updates, with the date of the change.
• Newly available primary sources may trigger a revision. We update the article and say what changed.
• We do not silently rewrite published claims that readers may already have quoted.
• Reader reports are welcome. We check reported errors against primary sources and correct them when they are confirmed. The About DiploBrief and DiploBrief FAQ pages explain our method and perspective further.

Fact-check method

Fact Check articles open by stating the claim and its origin precisely. They then give the verified correction from official statements, treaties and primary documents. They do not rebut a weaker version of the claim than the one actually made.

Sister publications run complementary fact checks on claims about Türkiye, and we link to them where relevant, for example Borders & Blocs and Polity Review. These pieces are separate analyses. We encourage readers to check their cited primary sources just as they would check ours.

Key Terms & Related Guides

• Primary source: a treaty, official statement, UN record or archival document produced at the time or by the actor concerned.
• Official position: a policy stated by a government source such as the MFA or the Presidency, as opposed to commentary about it.
• Gloss: a brief explanation of an unfamiliar term at first mention.
• Correction note: a dated, visible record of a change to a published fact.

Related guides:

• The Mediation and Montreux Brief
• Operation Names Decoded: Claw, Euphrates Shield, Olive Branch, Peace Spring and Spring Shield
• What Is the 'Terror-Free Türkiye' Initiative?
• The Istanbul Talks of 2022

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