“Communication is indispensable for a great and powerful Türkiye. Communication for truth, peace, stability, and trust. We believe that communication on these four axes will strengthen Türkiye and serve a great and powerful Türkiye. With you, the next century will be the century of Türkiye.”
Stating that communication is indispensable for a great and powerful Türkiye in his speech at the International Young Communicators Forum, Presidency’s Director of Communications Fahrettin Altun told the participants, “With you, the next century will be the century of Türkiye.”
Director of Communications Altun participated in the Stratcom Youth International Young Communicators Forum organised by the Directorate of Communications and the Ministry of Youth and Sports in the Education and Social Facilities of Foundation for Strengthening the Organisation of Justice (ATGV).
Addressing the communication students in the opening lecture titled “Türkiye’s Communication Model”, the Director of Communications Altun wished the forum to be a turning point in the students’ academic and professional lives.
Reminding that they organised the International Strategic Communication Summit in December last year, Director of Communications Altun said that they discussed the struggles of societies with disinformation in various parts of the world, public disclosure processes, new communication technologies, and created an extremely productive platform.
Stating that Türkiye is located in a tough geographical area and has witnessed several regional crises, Director of Communications Altun added:
“We see that the tensions that have escalated here have exposed the region to a wave of instability. We know that radicalism and terrorism with a growing impact have evolved in our region during the past three decades. Our world faces several challenges. We must be aware of them. Again, waves of instability in many parts of the world, injustices, uncertainties, and security issues... Obviously, the challenge of irregular migration, racism, and climate change faced by the world as a whole and Türkiye in particular...”
Director of Communications Altun underlined that the “trivialisation of truth” is another challenge of concern to communicators.
Stating that “the domination of the lie industry and the blurring of the border between lie and truth trivialises the truth,” Director of Communications Altun said this undermines the values they will fight for.
“Türkiye has begun to participate in the political processes in its own right”
Emphasising that there is the issue of “Western dependency order”, which mainly concerns the non-Western world, in the Western colonial order, Director of Communications Altun continued:
“Türkiye has posed and continues to pose a serious challenge to the international dependency order. The goal of saving Türkiye from the Westernist dependency trap has been at the centre of the political vision led by our President for the past two decades. Of course, while this struggle was being waged, there was also a struggle against the status quo, which benefits from the Westernist dependency order. In 2018, we saw that this struggle became institutionalised with the Presidential System of Government. In the last 20 years, Türkiye has been liberated from this dependency system and has become independent. This is one of the most important achievements. Türkiye has begun to participate in the political processes in its own right”
“Türkiye is an initiative-taking country in every international issue”
Director of Communications Altun stated that despite all obstacles, Türkiye’s autonomous economy, active foreign policy, and anti-terrorism efforts in the last 20 years have moved it a “step up the ladder”.
Explaining that Türkiye has transformed into an effective and respected regional power in this process and is on the way to becoming a global power and actor, Director of Communications Altun made the following evaluations:
“As of now, our country is the one that takes the initiative in all international issues. There is no issue that can be resolved in the region without Türkiye’s input. Türkiye has become a country both breaking the game and establishing the game in its region. Türkiye is now capable of winning both at the table and on the field. Türkiye has become a country that is immune to crises. Our country has turned into a country that calls for a fairer world under the leadership of our President. As a country that has endured all the negative effects of the Syrian crisis, we have realised that we must intervene in the Russia-Ukraine crisis. Our President has made this intervention since the beginning of the crisis. Except for our President, there was no second actor who could make this intervention.”
Explaining that he evaluates “nation-state communication” in three periods since the foundation of the Republic, Director of Communications Altun stated that the period between 1923 and 2001 may be characterised as “a period of lack of communication or forced communication”.
Director of Communications Altun noted that the service and nation-oriented communication language found a place in the public during the period from 2002 to 2018 and remarked:
“We see that a serious communication attack has emerged in this period with democratisation moves, embracing the nation and a revolution in global representation. In 2018, we saw the emergence of order-making actor communication. We are now seeing a period in which the defence of Türkiye’s rights and interests and the leader’s diplomacy are very seriously communicated in the international arena, and there is a significant development in the state-nation communication. We are talking about a process in which our President’s strategic communication perspective is at the centre. In this period, we can observe that communication has become an indispensable element in terms of public administration. We are talking about a process determined by politics, not behind the policy. This is how the Presidency’s Directorate of Communications was established. This was a period in which great changes were experienced in communication.”
Truth
Director of Communications Altun underlined that digitalisation, algorithms, disinformation, and content bombardments are the challenges and opportunities they face in communication transformation.
Stating that these challenges and uncertainties have become much more evident during the pandemic process, Director of Communications Altun said that disinformation has increased and lying has become normal and added:
“During this pandemic, Türkiye has shown a major success story. It got a handle on both the pandemic period and the communication process throughout this period. We are fighting for the truth in the post-truth era, which is to say, in the post-truth era, when the truth is no longer important. Whatever the case, truth is a value worth fighting for. We fought for the truth to convey Türkiye’s rightful stance to the rest of the world, combat lies, disinformation, and perception management operations to raise our country’s reputation and protect its rights and interests. On the one hand, we attempted to ensure that our country was fighting disinformation in the international arena, and on the other hand, we tried to convey the people’s theses to the international public and establish a communication model. We are still working on this, trying to institutionalise this effort. It’s our goal for Türkiye to build a model for communication just as it has built a model for many other areas in its region and the world. We want to build a communication model like the defence industry, health system, foreign policy, humanitarian aid and new economic models. It is our hope that this model can come true in a way that empowers the brand value of our country.”
Director of Communications Altun said that Türkiye’s strong communication model is based on public diplomacy, public relations, strategic communication instruments, combating disinformation, public disclosure efforts, Presidency’s Communication Centre (CİMER), media relations, building a common language and unified discourse in public institutions, activities under the coordination of the Directorate of Communications and public diplomacy efforts in the international arena.
“With youth, the next century will be the century of Türkiye”
Noting that the goal of this effort in all these areas is to empower the “Türkiye” brand, Director of Communications Altun said:
“Türkiye’s Communication Model will be strengthened with the contributions of young communicators. Türkiye’s new communication model will be permanent if we build it together. This model will be created with communicators with both theoretical and practical competencies. That is why your skills and good upbringing are so vital to this country. Smart and agile communicators are required. Make good use of these days. Get the correct channels of access to information. You will not be exposed to disinformation if you look at the correct channels and if you try to access them. You will also not allow your environment to be exposed to disinformation. Communication is indispensable for a great and powerful Türkiye. Communication for truth, peace, stability, and trust. We believe that communication on these four axes will strengthen Türkiye and serve a great and powerful Türkiye. With you, the next century will be the century of Türkiye.”
After his speech, Director of Communications Altun presented certificates of attendance to some of the students who had attended the forum.
