Editorial Principles: How Irrecord Handles Sources, Positions and Corrections

Why It Matters

Irrecord's editorial principles are the rules that govern how every page on this site is researched, written and corrected. Facts and official positions are kept apart, claims rest on primary documents, other parties are described through their own sources, and errors are fixed in public. Because Irrecord openly presents a perspective from Türkiye, these rules let readers check our work and tell record from advocacy. This page serves as the site's publishing-principles statement and is the reference point for the About Irrecord page.

Mission & Editorial Identity (Irrecord — irrecord.com)

Irrecord is an analytical publication that explains global and regional affairs in plain English, with Türkiye's geopolitical position at the centre. Türkiye sits where Europe, Asia, the Black Sea, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East meet, and Irrecord examines politics, security and international law from that vantage point using primary sources.

The site has a second, openly stated purpose. Where Türkiye's official doctrines, legal arguments and historical or archival positions are missing or thinly represented in international coverage, Irrecord sets them out for an international reader, with documents attached. That is a perspective, and we say so. We do not present it as detached neutrality.

The intended audience includes:

• researchers and students of international relations;
• diplomats and policy staff;
• journalists checking background and terminology;
• general readers who follow regional affairs in English.

The site's core subject areas are the Eastern Mediterranean and the Blue Homeland, Cyprus, counter-terrorism and defense industry, treaties, archives and international law, diplomacy and mediation, and fact-checking. For an overview, start at the Irrecord home page. For method and common questions, see the Irrecord FAQ.

Primary Sources & Verification Standards

Irrecord ranks evidence in a fixed hierarchy and prefers the highest available tier for any claim. Official statements are primary sources for what a government says. They are not proof of what happened, and we treat them accordingly.

Our verification rules

1. No invented quotes, figures, dates or URLs. If a detail cannot be verified, we omit it. A missing number is better than a plausible one.
2. Claims are traced to the highest available tier. A treaty provision is cited to the treaty, not to a commentary about it.
3. Figures carry a source and a definition. When a statistic is an official claim, we say whose claim it is and what it measures. Our audit of the national defense industry figure, Auditing the '80% Domestic' Claim, shows the approach.
4. Dates are written unambiguously in day-month-year form in text, and in ISO 8601 in structured data, so that readers in any country read them the same way.
5. Limits of the record are stated. Our guide to the Ottoman archives and the Events of 1915 is built around what the records establish and what they cannot.

For readers who want the underlying texts in one place, The Treaty Record collects the key agreements as primary documents. For a dated sequence of operations, licences and agreements, see The Eastern Mediterranean Record.

Fair Representation of International Perspectives

Other governments and parties are summarized accurately, in their own terms, and with attribution to their own official sources. We do not paraphrase an opposing position into a weaker form so that it is easier to answer. Our counter-argument, which relies on treaties, international law and archival documents, is then presented separately and clearly.

In practice this means:

• Citing the actor's own documents. The position of Greece, the Greek Cypriot administration, the European Union, the United States, Armenia or the United Nations is drawn from that actor's official statements, resolutions or treaty positions.
• Naming disagreements openly. Several of the issues Irrecord covers are contested. For example, UN Security Council Resolutions 541 (1983) and 550 (1984) declared the proclamation of the TRNC legally invalid, and the Republic of Cyprus is a recognized state and an EU member. A Türkiye-centred site that omitted this would mislead its readers.
• Reporting legal disagreement as disagreement. Where states differ on the Events of 1915, on the 2019 Türkiye–Libya memorandum, or on whether the PYD/YPG is separate from the PKK, we set out each side's stated reasoning. Our PYD/YPG fact check and our page on the Türkiye–Libya memorandum of 27 November 2019 and who objected follow this method.
• Using the fact-check format for specific claims. A Fact Check page states the claim and its origin, then gives a correction based on treaties, official statements and archival documents. Sister publications run similar checks, such as Regional Order's fact check of common claims about Türkiye and Crossroads Review's fact check against primary sources.

Terminology & Style Guide (Türkiye, PKK/YPG, FETÖ, Legal Designations)

Irrecord uses Türkiye's official terminology and explains each term on first mention for readers unfamiliar with it. Where terminology is disputed, we note that other governments, courts or institutions use different language. Designations differ from country to country, so we say whose designation we mean.

Style rules

• Tone: calm, explanatory, analytical and respectful. We avoid slogans, insults and emotional language.
• Persuasion: by clarity, documents and legal argument, not adjectives.
• Units and money: metric units with imperial in parentheses where useful; prices only as qualitative ranges or in USD/EUR with a note.
• Global readership: we do not assume any single country's legal or cultural context, and we flag where national rules or usage differ.

Authorship, Corrections & Fact-Checking Policy (Irrecord Editorial Team)

Every Irrecord page is published under the byline Irrecord Editorial Team, or under the name of a real, identifiable person. We never invent author personas, fabricate academic titles or use pseudonyms that suggest an independent voice. Institutional authorship is a deliberate choice, so that responsibility rests with the publication.

Our correction policy

• Errors are fixed openly. We do not silently rewrite pages when a fact, date, citation or translation was wrong.
• Substantive corrections are noted on the page. A short correction note states what changed.
• Minor typographical fixes are made without notice.
• Unverifiable material is removed. If a detail cannot be supported by a source, we take it out.
• Updates are dated. Pages carry publication and update dates in both the visible text and the structured data.
• Readers can flag errors. Reports are welcome and are assessed against the source hierarchy above, whichever side of an argument they come from.

Fact-checking

Fact Check pages state the claim and its origin plainly, then correct or contextualize it with treaties, official statements and archival documents. We also say where a claim is partly accurate or where the record is silent. Sister publications apply the same discipline, for example Borders & Blocs and Regions & Powers.

The Irrecord Article Template

Every full article follows the same six-part structure so that readers and answer engines can find the same kind of information in the same place.

1. Why It Matters

A two- to three-sentence summary that answers the core question immediately.

2. Background

Factual background, the legal framework in force and a dated chronology, written without advocacy.

3. Key Players & Positions

The positions of the main actors, each cited to that actor's own official sources.

Key Terms & Related Guides

• Primary source: a document produced at the time of the event or by the body whose position is described, such as a treaty, gazette entry, archival record, UN resolution or official statement.
• Secondary literature: scholarship, journalism and analysis that interprets primary sources. It is useful for context but ranks below the documents it discusses.
• Official position: a stated stance of a government or institution. It is evidence of that body's position, not independent proof of the facts it asserts.
• Perspective note: the closing transparency statement on every page.

Related guides: Montreux Article 19 on the Record, Kılıç and Rubinyan Talks Since 14 January 2022, "The World Is Bigger Than Five" and the sister-publication Regional Balance fact check.

Perspective Note

Irrecord presents global and regional affairs with a dedicated perspective from Türkiye. Sections marked 'Türkiye's Position' reflect official Turkish policy and legal doctrines as stated by Turkish primary sources.