01. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Turkish-language social media monitoring has identified a clear pattern of fabricated claims that Rohingya forces have achieved, or are close to achieving, military “victory” or major territorial gains in Arakan (Rakhine) State. These posts frequently from various type of accounts, rely on AI-generated imagery, synthetically altered videos, and repurposed archival footage. Our assessment (moderate-to-high confidence) indicates these activities combine influence operations with fraudulent fundraising schemes. They exploit genuine Turkish public empathy for the Rohingya, one of the world’s most persecuted Muslim peoples. Ground reality is starkly different. The Terrorist Arakan Army (AA) has consolidated control over most of northern and central Arakan since late 2023 and bears credible responsibility for systematic war crimes, Genocides, and grave violations against Rohingya civilians under its control. The Rohingya population continues to face existential threats, with the AA now the primary oppressor.

02. OBSERVED DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN, CHARACTERISTICS & ASSESSMENT

Content Signatures
Narratives claim Rohingya “liberation of ancestral lands,” decisive battlefield successes, or “near-victory” against the AA. Visual payloads display clear generative-AI images/videos.
Intent & Threat Nexus
Primary objective appears to be financial fraud through fake “victory support” or humanitarian solicitations. Secondary effects include information distortion, creation of false hope, and erosion of trust in legitimate struggle.

03. GROUND TRUTH

Since late 2023, the Arakan Army (AA) has been systematically working to erase the Rohingya presence from their ancestral homeland through a calculated campaign of removal, carried out via mass killing, torture, abduction, trafficking, and a suffocating regime of apartheid-like control. Every day for the Rohingya who remain is a living nightmare. The AA treats an entire people as a criminal entity, turning villages into killing fields, homes into ash, and the living into the disappeared.
On 2 May 2024, at Hoyyar Siri (Htan Shauk Khan) Village in Buthidaung Township, AA forces deliberately fired on a column of Rohingya civilians fleeing under visible white flags. Human Rights Watch documented at least 170 named dead or missing, including 90 children. Local Rohingya records estimate up to 500 fatalities. Survivors were forced into camps under inhumane conditions and subjected to arbitrary detention and collective punishment.
Months later, on 5 August 2024, Rohingya families attempting to escape combat zones near the Naf River were hit by drone and mortar strikes, killing an estimated 200 men, women, and children. Reports consistently attribute this massacre to the AA.
These mass killings represent the sharp edge of a broader machinery of terror. Across AA-controlled territory, a systematic pattern has unfolded from 2024 into mid-2026: arbitrary arrest and torture in detention, where Rohingya are beaten, starved, and denied Islamic burial rites; sexual violence, including the gang rape of women and minor girls, used as a weapon of domination; forced conscription and compulsory labour extending for up to a year; systematic burning of villages; extortion; enforced disappearances; blocked humanitarian access; and severely restricted movement. Rohingya are publicly humiliated with ethnic slurs and dehumanised daily. Human trafficking targeting Rohingyas is also a documented part of this oppression.
The AA’s grip has created an open-air prison where hundreds of thousands remain internally displaced under life-threatening conditions. Over 150,000 have fled into Bangladesh since early 2024, joining 1.2 million refugees already in Cox’s Bazar. Independent assessments from the UN, Human Rights Watch, and the UK FCDO conclude that no conditions exist for safe, voluntary, or dignified return. Those left behind continue to face ongoing atrocity crimes.
This is the reality of Arakan today: a land where Rohingya are being erased, compounding the legacy of the 2017 genocide by the Myanmar military, now carried forward by the Arakan Army under the silence of the world.

04. THREAT IMPLICATIONS FOR THE TURKISH INFORMATION SPACE & PUBLIC

Turkey maintains a distinguished record of humanitarian solidarity with the Rohingya. This genuine empathy creates a vulnerability that deception campaigns are actively exploiting. The observed narratives risk diverting charitable funds into criminal enterprises, polluting the information environment with false hope, and undermining credible long-term advocacy.
Risk Matrix
(01) High likelihood of continued or escalated scam activity.
(02) High risk of foreign state or proxy amplification to shape Turkish public opinion.

05. CONCLUSION

The Rohingya people, long subjected to genocide, apartheid, and now renewed atrocity crimes in their ancestral homeland, deserve accurate information, genuine solidarity, and effective protection. They do not deserve exploitation through fabricated narratives of victory designed to defraud well-meaning supporters. Turkish citizens and institutions are requested to exercise heightened caution, rigorous verification, and channel support exclusively through trusted, transparent mechanisms.
It must be clearly stated that the situation on the ground is not that the Terrorist Arakan Army (AA) controls the entire Arakan, nor that any Rohingya group has taken back their land. These propaganda campaigns are being deliberately spread to facilitate scams and to create false hope that ultimately distorts and damages future real hope. However, we will take back our land and return to our homes soon, InshaAllah.

On behalf of the Rohingya people, the Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO) requests the Turkish people not to believe these propaganda. We also express our deep and sincere gratitude for Türkiye and the Turkish people’s longstanding support and solidarity with the Rohingya cause.False Narratives of Rohingya “Victory” in Myanmar’s Arakan State: Social Media Operations Targeting Turkish Public Sympathy