Gagrule.net

Gagrule.net News, Views, Interviews worldwide

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • GagruleLive
  • Armenia profile

Turkish ministers accuse Twitter of plotting against Erdoğan

March 30, 2016 By administrator

AA photo

AA photo

(.hurriyetdailynews) Senior government officials have slammed Twitter, claiming it “censored” a hashtag created for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan by removing #WeLoveErdogan from its top trending tweets.

“I’m asking Twitter officials: Who instructed you to remove the #WeLoveErdogan hashtag? Was it a country, a person, a terrorist organization, or someone else?” Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ told reporters on March 30.

“I’m just curious: Is using the message ‘We love Erdoğan’ against Twitter’s principles? Why would a message expressing people’s love bother Twitter?” he added.

“I am of the opinion that this is one part of a global operation conducted against our president,” Bozdağ also said.

Supporters of President Erdoğan have created a viral Twitter hashtag #WeLoveErdogan to rally around the Turkish leader as he makes a highly sensitive visit to the United States at a time when he faces growing criticism over freedom of expression.

“Our president Mr @RT_Erdogan was greeted with great enthusiasm by US citizens and our compatriots,” tweeted Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, who is accompanying Erdoğan on his visit to Washington, adding the hashtag “#WeLoveErdogan.”

Other users posted pictures of Erdoğan kissing children or famous moments from his career and life, including scoring a goal with a canny chip in a televised 2014 exhibition football match.

Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy Mehmet Babaoğlu posted a picture of Erdoğan’s 2009 walk-out from the World Economic Forum in Davos after a row with then Israeli President Shimon Peres.
“That’s why #WeLoveErdogan,” he said.

But the campaign hit immediate controversy with Erdogan supporters accusing Twitter of censorship by deliberately removing the hashtag from its top trending tweets.

Ankara mayor accuses Gülen group

In an extraordinary broadside of over 40 tweets posted on his Turkish and English accounts, Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek said Twitter had deliberately taken it down.

“This hashtag #WeLoveErdogan got TT ranking worldwide … But then it was censored unbelievably,” said Gökçek, accusing supporters of Erdoğan’s friend-turned-foe, the U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, of being behind its removal.

However, other users expressed skepticism, suggesting that rather than censoring the hashtag Twitter may have removed it for being generated by fake accounts and automated bots, or simply as a normal outcome of its complex algorithm for determining top trends.

There was no immediate comment from the social network.

The Twitter campaign comes as Erdoğan visits the United States amid signs that U.S. President Barack Obama is trying to keep his distance from the Turkish leader.

Foreign criticism is also multiplying over the issue of freedom of expression and freedom of the media. In the latest row, Turkey summoned the German ambassador in Ankara to demand that Germany take down a satirical TV song lampooning Erdoğan.

Until last year, Erdoğan was seen as hostile to Twitter, boasting that he does not “tweet or schmeet” and overseeing blockages of social networks.

But in 2015 he sent his first tweet from his own account @RT_Erdogan and now regularly uses Twitter.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Erdogan, plotting, Turkish ministers, Twitter

Support Gagrule.net

Subscribe Free News & Update

Search

GagruleLive with Harut Sassounian

Can activist run a Government?

Wally Sarkeesian Interview Onnik Dinkjian and son

https://youtu.be/BiI8_TJzHEM

Khachic Moradian

https://youtu.be/-NkIYpCAIII
https://youtu.be/9_Xi7FA3tGQ
https://youtu.be/Arg8gAhcIb0
https://youtu.be/zzh-WpjGltY





gagrulenet Twitter-Timeline

Tweets by @gagrulenet

Archives

Books

Recent Posts

  • U.S. Judge Dismisses $500 Million Lawsuit By Azeri Lawyer Against ANCA & 29 Others
  • These Are the Social Security Offices Expected to Close This Year, Musk call SS Ponzi Scheme
  • Breaking News, Pashinyan regime has filed charges against public figure Edgar Ghazaryan,
  • ANCA’s Controversial Endorsement: Implications for Armenian Voters
  • (MHP), Devlet Bahçeli, has invited Kurdish Leader Öcalan to the Parliament “Ask to end terrorism and dissolve the PKK.”

Recent Comments

  • administrator on Turkish Agent Pashinyan will not attend the meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of State
  • David on Turkish Agent Pashinyan will not attend the meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of State
  • Ara Arakelian on A democratic nation has been allowed to die – the UN has failed once more “Nagorno-Karabakh”
  • DV on A democratic nation has been allowed to die – the UN has failed once more “Nagorno-Karabakh”
  • Tavo on I’d call on the people of Syunik to arm themselves, and defend your country – Vazgen Manukyan

Copyright © 2025 · News Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in