Written by: Etrit Rexhepi
A video has been published showing military vehicles that Turkey is allegedly donating to Kosovo.
content was posted on Tuesday (June 3) on TikTok by an account named "forca.kosovesfsk".
What is the truth?
Hibrid.info has not found official information that Kosovo will be equipped with the vehicles shown in this video.
Hibrid.info, using the automated search program “InVID”, has researched the video in question. The results of this search have shown that the military vehicle seen in the video is a BMC ALTUG 8X8 (see here).
After researching using the Google search engine, with the keywords "Kosovo buys military vehicles from Turkey", no results were found showing reports confirming this claim, in the last 30 days (see here).
Also, in the recent announcements of the Facebook pages of the Ministry of Defense, the Kosovo Security Force and the Minister of Defense, Ejup Maqedonci, no announcement was found that would confirm the claim (see here, here and here).
What is known so far about the supply of these vehicles?
In July 2021, “evropaelire.org” wrote in sources that Kosovo has signed a contract with Turkey for the purchase of 14 armored military vehicles of the “Vuran” and “KIRPI” types. (see here).
Meanwhile, the Turkish state news agency Anadolu reported that the first export of Turkish armored vehicles of the Vuran 4X4 type, produced in cooperation with defense firms in Turkey, will arrive in Kosovo. According to the 2021 report, the vehicle will be equipped with the 120-millimeter Alkar mortar system from Aselsan (see here).
Just a month earlier (April 2024), the Minister of Defense, Ejup Maqedonci, in an interview with “Anadolu Agency (AA)” confirmed that the KSF has “Vuran” vehicles with an integrated 120-millimeter mortar armament system in its inventory. However, he did not mention any figures (see here).
On the Wikipedia page, the Turkish-made military equipment and vehicles that Kosovo possesses are listed as Otokar Akrep, Otokar Naviga, Otokar Cobra, BMC Kirpi, BMC Vuran and Bayraktar TB2 drones (see here).
Analyze
The claim in a video that Turkey is donating the military vehicles (BMC ALTUG 8×8) shown in the video to Kosovo is untrue.
There is no official source or evidence confirming that Kosovo will be equipped with such vehicles.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses the content as "Fake News".
rationale
The “Fake News” rating is given to informational content that is entirely fabricated or that contains factually incorrect claims or information. Content that is rated as fake news can be defined as having been created and distributed with the intent to misinform the public, i.e., to present a claim that is completely false as fact.