Turkey is still recovering from the attempted coup that took place last month, which was orchestrated by a faction within the country's military. Many Turkish reporters are trying to uncover facts about what happened that night, but it seems one presenter was a bit over-optimistic when she pulled a notebook from some garbage. It did contain codes, but rather than being related to the coup, which she was convinced of, they were actually cheat codes for Grand Theft Auto IV.
""There are some interesting notes found in the garbage which are thrown by Gulenists (supporters of the coup)," the ATV Ana Haber news reporter says to the camera. "The writings in this notebook look like codes for the coup."
She then reads off the labels found next to the codes: health and weapon, health and armor, weather, helicopter, motorcycle. "All things that can be used in a coup." But while her determination to find a story can't be questioned, her knowledge of video games may be suspect, as she doesn't realize they're codes for the 2008 game - though the "GTA IV Cheat Codes" scrawled at the top is a big hint that the plotters' plans didn't involve controlling the weather.
Amazingly, a number of sources say the clip is 100 percent genuine and not a fake, as you may think. But the fact that someone needed to write down cheat codes for an 8-year-old game is just as incredible as mistaking them for military secrets.
This isn't the first time news outlets have mixed games with reality. Back in May, the Russian embassy posted a screenshot from classic PC strategy game Command and Conquer: Generals to illustrate extremist activities.