Claim: A video shows a Pakistani man slapping a Turkish tourist in London.
Fact: Turkish news reports identify the suspect as Tolga Çelik, but none identifies him as Pakistani or explicitly establishes his citizenship. They identify the victim as a Syrian national Suriya Eddiyab, and place the assault in Nevşehir, Türkiye.
On 4 November 2026, the Instagram page Pod Squad Shorts shared a CCTV video claiming that a Pakistani man had slapped a Turkish tourist in London.
The caption begins: “A Pakistani man has been arrested in London after slapping a Turkish tourist in an apparently unprovoked incident.”
The CCTV footage shows a woman standing on a pavement when a man approaches her from behind, strikes her near the face, and walks away.
Screenshot of the reel shared by Pod Squad Shorts on Instagram, claiming that a Pakistani man slapped a Turkish tourist in London.
Fact or Fiction?
To investigate whether the suspect was Pakistani, Soch Fact Check searched for earlier coverage of the incident and compared the viral CCTV footage with footage reported by Turkish news agencies on 3 November 2026.
A report published by Demirören News Agency (DHA) , a Turkish news agency, on 3 November identifies the suspect as Tolga Çelik, 38.
According to DHA, Çelik approached a woman identified as S.E. from behind outside a market in the Kapucubaşı neighbourhood of Nevşehir and slapped her near her left ear.
The incident was recorded by a nearby business’s security camera. Comparing the scene and sequence of the assault in DHA‘s footage with the viral recording shows that they depict the same incident.
Comparison of CCTV footage reported by Turkish news agency DHA (left) and the viral Instagram video (right), showing the same assault in Nevşehir, Türkiye.
According to DHA, the woman filed a police complaint following the assault. Çelik was subsequently arrested and remanded in custody. A medical examination found that the woman had suffered hearing loss. Çelik denied deliberately striking her, claiming that his arm had accidentally made contact with her.
A separate report by İhlas News Agency (İHA), carried by Habertürk on 3 November corroborates the location, the suspect’s identity, and the circumstances of the assault.
İHA also identifies the suspect as Tolga Çelik, 38, and the woman as S.E., 46, corroborating the details reported by DHA.
An updated report by Anadolu Agency (AA), published by Habertürk on 3 November, identifies the woman as Suriya Eddiyab, 46, a Syrian national. Eddiyab told AA that she was returning home from the market when the man struck her. The report also confirms that the assault occurred on Atatürk Caddesi in Nevşehir.
The Turkish news reports consistently identify the suspect as Tolga Çelik, but none identifies him as Pakistani or explicitly establishes his citizenship. His name alone cannot conclusively establish his nationality. The reports also contradict posts claiming that the woman was a Turkish tourist or that the assault took place in London: AA identifies her as Syrian, while all three agencies place the incident in Nevşehir, Türkiye.
Virality
The claim circulated in at least eight Facebook posts and three Instagram reels identified during the investigation.
Conclusion: Soch Fact Check found that Turkish news reports identify the suspect in the viral video as a man named Tolga Çelik, aged 38, and the victim as a Syrian national named Suriya Eddiyab. The reports do not establish the suspect’s Pakistani nationality. They also confirm that the assault took place in Nevşehir, Türkiye, not London.
To appeal against our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com