Turkish Reporter: These Grand Theft Auto Cheat Codes Are The Secret Messages Of The Failed Coup Attempt

from the idkfa dept

Thu, Aug 11th 2016 4:31pm — Timothy Geigner

In a polarized America, quite often the claim is made that this or that news organization is making stuff up and calling it news. These claims usually fall along partisan lines, leading those of us that don't consider ourselves affiliated with any side to shake our heads. And, while nobody should ever be so bold as to claim that no bias exists at all, accusations of purely making up news tend to pale in comparison to what goes on in some other nations out there.

Let's take Turkey, for instance. Yes the country with the petulant and easily-upset President Tayyip Erdogan, also has some reporters that truly just make stuff up. For instance, you can read about one reporter who managed to find some secret documents from the plotters of the recently failed coup attempt against Erdogan, and you can see an image of the secret codes she found below.

If any of that looks familiar but you're still having trouble placing exactly what, here's a basic transcription of the words on the page.

GTA IV

Cheats

I/ Health and Gun

II/Health and Armor

Yup, those are cheat codes for Grand Theft Auto 4. The reporter, meanwhile, apparently insisted that these were secret communications by the plotters against Erdogan. And you have to admit that that doesn't make any sense, because if those plotters could get more guns and health just by repeating a video game cheat code, the coup probably would have gone off without a hitch.

I'm not telling you not to be mad at news coverage in the United States. I'm just saying it could be worse.

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Filed Under: coup, gta iv, reporting, turkey

23 Comments

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You are being watched (profile), 11 Aug 2016 @ 4:46pm

Could be very handy with that 6 star rating they have going on right now.
They should have went with the 'lower wanted level' cheat.
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Capt ICE Enforcer, 11 Aug 2016 @ 4:48pm

You know it
Up, up, down, down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, A, B. Start....
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Capt ICE Enforcer, 11 Aug 2016 @ 4:48pm

You know it
Up, up, down, down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, A, B. Start....
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Capt ICE Enforcer, 11 Aug 2016 @ 4:50pm

That code was so good. It posted twice. Unstoppable.
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Atkray (profile), 11 Aug 2016 @ 5:06pm

How do we mark the post itself as funny?
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Zinc Whiskers (profile), 11 Aug 2016 @ 5:10pm

Wasn't this news a couple weeks ago?
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Aug 2016 @ 5:31pm

More proof our reality is a simulation.
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JustShutUpAndObey, 11 Aug 2016 @ 8:12pm

Countries are like people
Countries are like individuals. Sometimes they just go batshit insane.
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Spyder, 11 Aug 2016 @ 8:38pm

(Imagines Trump madly punching cheat codes into voting machines in the hope of proving Hillary rigged the election...)
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Padpaw (profile), 12 Aug 2016 @ 1:24am

Re:
no matter which side wins we can be certain the losers will claim election fraud.
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PaulT (profile), 12 Aug 2016 @ 1:28am

Re: Re:
Only one side has already claimed it will be rigged, however.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Aug 2016 @ 1:56am

CHEATER!!!!
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JustSomeGuy, 12 Aug 2016 @ 2:39am

This is absolutely true*
I, for one, am planning to overthrow the Australian government after the census debacle and I KNOW I will succeed because I have in my grubby little hands a piece of paper containing the phrases "power overwhelming", "show me the money" and "there is no cow level".

* for very loose definitions of the word "true" :-)
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Tobias Harms (profile), 12 Aug 2016 @ 3:24am

What I don't understand is why everyone keep referring to this as the "failed coup". This was a very successful coup from Erdogan.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Aug 2016 @ 5:08am

They clearly picked the wrong game, GTA IV has lousy cheat codes. Using GTA V instead would let one become more or less Superman.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Aug 2016 @ 5:10am

Re: Re:
Citizens are the losers, no matter what.
Who is elected determines how bad it will get.
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DannyB (profile), 12 Aug 2016 @ 5:59am

Making stuff up and calling it news
American news organizations DO NOT make stuff up and call it news.

They call it BREAKING NEWS.
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DannyB (profile), 12 Aug 2016 @ 6:02am

Re: Countries are like people
Make ${COUNTRY} great again!
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DannyB (profile), 12 Aug 2016 @ 6:03am

Re:
Our reality might not be a simulation.

This planet could be a beta test.

Or, this planet could be some other planet's 'hell'.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Aug 2016 @ 6:20am

Re: Re:
The developer writes messy code and left a lot of bugs in it.
2 Stars
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Uriel-238 (profile), 12 Aug 2016 @ 6:48am

We've seen more believable versions of this sort of thing before.
The 1944 D-Day Crossword Panic should set the standard for the minimum amount of evidence before a communication conspiracy is to be believed.
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Ninja (profile), 12 Aug 2016 @ 6:53am

I'm just saying it could be worse.

Could? I would use will instead of could. Because at some point it will. And that applies everywhere.
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Anonymous Coward, 15 Aug 2016 @ 12:53pm

Newsvertising
In addition to making up news, they also disguise advertisements as news, and the anchor just happens to have that (insert product here) and thinks it's great.
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