First Lady Emine Erdoğan hosted the spouses of the NATO leaders, who are in Ankara for the 36th NATO Heads of State and Government Summit, at Çankaya Presidential Palace.
Welcoming her guests upon their arrival at Çankaya Presidential Palace, First Lady Erdoğan attended a roundtable meeting held under the theme of “Children, Technology and Security: Protecting the Next Generation” with the leaders’ spouses.
Speaking at the opening of the meeting, First Lady Erdoğan stated that although it has been only 30 seconds since she started speaking, 60 more children have stepped into a limitless world, and said: “This limitlessness applies to dangers as well as opportunities. Exposure, direction, data tracking are all limitless.”
“The issue here is not only dangerous contents. The issue is our children’s attention, curiosity and time being turned into the raw material of the new age. The issue is that what billions of children will see or believe in is decided by a handful of companies from a few square-kilometer valley. Our most vulnerable ones against this techno-colonialism, whose soil is mind and mine is attention, are children,” Mrs. Erdoğan noted.
Stressing that states cannot be a mere onlooker to such a great transformation, First Lady Erdoğan underscored that what our children will be subjected to through a screen cannot be left to the mercy of profit-seeking companies alone, and added: “Companies are responsible to their shareholders, and states to their nations. In this regard, forming a human-oriented framework that will protect our children in the digital age is the responsibility of states, which get their authorization from nations. We as Türkiye endeavor to do what this responsibility requires. With our Children’s Rights in the Digital World Convention, we have carried this struggle to international platforms. With internal regulations, we have restricted social media access for children under 15, and have introduced such tangible liabilities as age verification and parental control for platforms.”
After the roundtable meeting, First Lady Erdoğan met with the leaders’ spouses during luncheon, which was followed by a family photo.
After the family photo, Mrs. Erdoğan and the leaders’ spouses inspected a collection featuring fabrics, embroideries and engravings that reflect traditional hand workmanship and the richness of the Turkish weaving culture.