Turkish media outlets - including the BBC - fell for an April Fools' news story that said the UN was planning a second Suez Canal for Egypt

Mia Jankowicz
Updated ·2 min read
ever given suez canal guardian april fool turkey egypt
A screenshot of The Guardian's April fool article, as of 7pm March 31. The Guardian

  • Turkish media appears to have fallen for an April fools prank by British newspaper The Guardian.

  • The Guardian published a spoof story claiming a second Suez Canal was in the works.

  • Several outlets, including BBC Turkey, reported - and then deleted - the story.

  • See more stories on Insider's business page.

An 'April Fools'' news article claiming the United Nations is looking into building a second Suez Canal appears to have been taken wholly seriously by major Turkish media outlets.

On April 1, The Guardian published "'Suez 2'? Ever Given grounding prompts plan for canal along Egypt-Israel border," an article that rapidly gained attention given the current international interest in the canal.

The article said that the UN was studying the feasibility of a second channel along the Egypt-Israel border.

suez canal april fools guardian graphic ever given turkey
A graphic that appeared in The Guardian's spoof, marking "Suez 2" in red along the Egypt-Israel border. The Guardian

Several Turkish outlets appear to have taken it at face value, including BBC News Türkçe , which reported the story.

BBC turkey april fools suez canal Guardian ever given
A screenshot of the now-deleted BBC Turkey article. BBC Turkey

"The eyes and ears of the world were there! UN stepped in, rolled up sleeves for 2nd Suez Canal," read the headline used online by major national paper Hürriyet.

T24, an online Turkish news outlet, also published the story. The pages have now been deleted, but can be found via Google's cache.

Unfortunately, it was a spoof. The article - written by "Flora Lopi" - cited "sources" such as "Iver Shovel," "international tunnelling company OFP Lariol," and "Mo Sez, a regional expert in water division management."

The Guardian went all in and created a fake Twitter account for "Flora Lopi," who played along with the joke on social media:

The apparent mistake was first noticed by Middle East Eye Turkey correspondent Ragıp Soylu, who tweeted images of several print front pages that Insider has not been able to independently confirm:

The fake story created a huge buzz when first published, and "Suez 2" briefly trended on Twitter in the UK. It's not a surprise - the Ever Given has dominated the news cycle ever since it was grounded for six days in the crucial waterway.

The 220,000-ton container ship completely blocked one of the world's most important trading routes, choking the supply chain - and sparking endless memes. The ship was eventually freed on Monday, and the accumulated backlog of vessels is slowly passing through the channel.

The Guardian updated its story, marking it "April Fools'," as of noon on April 1, as is traditional with spoof stories.

The BBC, T24 and Hürriyet did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

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