President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said the increasingly influential digital world has been eroding moral values on a vast scale, particularly playing a significant role in the spread of Islamophobia.
“We must recognize that digital media is not merely a tool for entertainment or profit-making. The digital movement is endeavoring to create an artificial religion by undermining all the religions and values in the world. Its impact is growing on a global scale,” Erdoğan said during an event in the capital Ankara on Nov. 26.
Erdoğan emphasized that racist ideologies and propaganda spread through mainstream and social media are reaching an ever-widening audience.
“Today, children are more exposed to the influence of digital media than the nurturing of their parents, teachers or neighborhoods.”
He condemned the malicious use of social media by certain groups, which misguide and manipulate young people for ulterior motives.
“A handful of isolated negative examples are used to insult all religious people, vilify foundations, associations and sects and undermine religion and its adherents.”
“Those who seek to disrupt the unity and peace in our region are directly assaulting our faith. We observe that attacks on Islam and Muslims are being carried out through ideologies such as atheism and shamanism. We are determined to put an end to these assaults, particularly those aimed at confusing the minds of our youth.”
In a call for action, he urged Türkiye’s media watchdog RTÜK to impose sanctions on television programs and productions that target and degrade specific groups and values.
Erdoğan further criticized the increasing Islamophobia in the West, highlighting the passive stance of Western countries towards Israel’s actions in Gaza.
“The West’s march, driven by blood, tears, massacre and exploitation, represents a transient period of dominance aimed at suffocating the Eastern human civilization,” he said.
“There is an intensifying and more orchestrated attack on the codes and essence that define us. The perpetrators of the massacres in Gaza and other Islamic lands, seeking to exterminate Muslims, are glaringly evident. The covert and insidious enemy, though using all means, is primarily waging its battle through social media.”
Israel’s attacks in Gaza have killed 44,235 people in Gaza, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s Health Ministry.
In October, Türkiye submitted a letter to the United Nations, signed by 52 countries and two inter-governmental organizations, calling for a halt in arms deliveries to Israel.
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