Turkish composer releases song ‘Absolutely Not’ for Imran Khan

Rating Justification

The iVerify Pakistan team has reviewed this content and determined that it is misleading.

To reach this conclusion, the iVerify Pakistan team investigated the song released by Turkish composer Turgay Evren for PTI founder Imran Khan.

PTI leader and lawyer Shoaib Shaheen shared a video clip on social media platform X on June 30, 2024, claiming that a Turkish musician released a song titled ‘Absolutely Not’ for party founder Imran Khan. However, the clip is from June 2022 while the song was released in July 2022.

HOW IT STARTED

On June 30, Shaheen, one of the spokespersons of the PTI and a lawyer, shared a video clip showing an anchorperson from Hum News announcing that Turkish songwriter Turgay Evren composed a song for Imran.

The caption for his post said: “Famous Turkish musician Turgay Evren has released the song ‘Absolutely Not’ for Imran Khan.”

However, Shaheen did not provide any other details about the timing and release date of the song, only mentioning in the present tense that it has been released.

More than 80,000 people saw the post.

The same claim with the same caption was then shared by Dr Usman Khan, director of the legal action non-governmental organisation Citizens Against State Torture.

The post gained over 23,000 views. Other PTI supporters also subsequently reshared Shaheen’s post.

METHODOLOGY

A fact check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality and the keen public interest in the matter as it involved alleged international support for Imran who is currently incarcerated in Adiala Jail.

To investigate the claim, a keyword search for the Hum News segment was conducted using “Absolutely Not”, “song” and “Hum News“.

The keyword search yielded a video uploaded by Evren on his YouTube channel, dated June 14, 2022, with the title: “The news of our song ‘Absolutely Not’ on Hum News Pakistan.”

The song itself was uploaded on July 1, 2022, on Evren’s YouTube channel.

Furthermore, the songwriter himself addressed the matter of the song being shared and presented again as if it was some fresh development and said he did not know the reason for it.

In a June 30 X post, Evren said: “I don’t know why, but our song ‘Absolutely Not’ is again on the agenda of Pakistan today!”

FACT-CHECK STATUS: MISLEADING

The claim shared by PTI leader Shoaib Shaheen regarding the Turkish song released for former prime minister Imran is misleading.

The song was released by Evren for Imran, but back in July 2022 — not this year as per the impression given by Shaheen’s post which uses the present tense of “has released” instead of the past tense of “was released” or “had released”. Such ambiguity can mislead the public about the actual timing of the song’s release and lead them to think it’s a new development tied to Imran Khan’s current situation.

Evidence and References

June 14, 2022, YouTube clip of Hum News segment:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DkkdDieR9M

July 1, 2022, Youtube release of ‘Absolutely Not’ by Turgay Evren:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwOtp8ptYrA

June 30, 2024, X post of Turgay Evren:
https://perma.cc/UHK4-WHYM