Social network user, Irakli Zakareishvili, whose pieces of disinformation have been verified by FactCheck multiple times in the past (1,2) disseminated another piece of false information – this time about protest rally held in Batumi. According to his claim (1, 2) Turkish magazine LeMan published a cover with a caricature about protest rally in Batumi where people who protested visit of Russia’s cruise ship Astoria Grande to Batumi are mocked. The magazine’s cover are disseminated under the following caption:  “Georgian animators take away the monopoly of entertaining Russian tourists from the Turks.”

The identical photograph was posted by the Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov on his Telegram channel. The cartoon went viral owing to other Russian-language accounts (1,2,3,4,5)

In fact, the aforementioned cover does not belong to the Turkish magazine "LeMan". It was reported through the official Twitter account of "LeMan" itself. The Turkish magazine posted a fake cover on Twitter and wrote that Russian propagandists disseminate the doctored cover of LeMan. 

Of additional note is that the date of publication on the fake cover is 2 August 2023 whilst it was disseminated in the social network on 1 August. Turkish magazine LeMan has not yet released the cover of its new August 2 issue, and the cover of the latest July 26 issue looks like this.

Thus, the claim that the Turkish magazine LeMan published a caricature cover in regard to the protest held in Batumi is fake and it does not belong to the Turkish magazine.

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