President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said, "By means of our Centre for Combating Disinformation, we have exposed the truth behind over a hundred deliberately fabricated news stories."
In his video message sent to the International Strategic Communication Summit (Stratcom Summit'23), organised for the third time this year by the Directorate of Communications, President Erdoğan expressed his pleasure to welcome the participants in Istanbul.
Remarking that this year's summit is being held in a painful period of indescribable suffering, President Erdoğan emphasised that there had been massive slaughter and brutality going on in Gaza since October 7, where every value of humanity was trampled.
Drawing attention to the journalists who lost their lives in the Israeli attacks, President Erdoğan said, "The civilians deliberately targeted by Israel are not limited to children and women either. Israel also kills journalists who try to announce the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza to the world, despite all the difficulties. The Israeli attacks have resulted in the deaths of over 60 journalists thus far. In addition to shutting off Gaza's population's access to fuel, food, water, and electricity - which is a clear war crime - Israel is also attempting to keep the oppression hidden by severing their lines of communication with the outside world."
President Erdoğan noted that, in the face of this atrocity, international organisations and the global system gave a terrible account of themselves in this test.
Stating that the UN Security Council, which is tasked with ensuring global peace and stability, remained completely dysfunctional in this process, President Erdoğan said, "The resolution, which was adopted at the United Nations General Assembly with 40 countries' "abstention" and 121 countries' votes "in favour," was meaningful and valuable in that it reflected the common conscience of humanity."
Emphasising that another issue that bothered them as much as the deaths of children in Gaza was the biased reporting of international news organisations, President Erdoğan stated:
"Many press and broadcasting organisations that addressed the October 7 incident ignored Israel's crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza. This attitude has not changed despite the massacre of their own colleagues by Israeli security forces. This unprincipled attitude, I believe, has deeply wounded not only the families of the journalists who died but also the entire press community. As Türkiye, just as we have supported the people of Gaza against Israeli oppression since the beginning, we have also resisted Israel's propaganda campaign, which sought to destroy or falsify the truth."
"I extend my sincere congratulations to all journalists who stand for the truth"
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said, "By means of our Centre for Combating Disinformation, we have exposed the truth behind over a hundred deliberately fabricated news stories. The Directorate of Communications, the Anadolu Agency, and TRT all fulfilled their respective responsibilities. The Turkish press, which has consistently provided updates on the situation on the ground, has adopted an exceptionally courageous position throughout this period."
Extending his sincere congratulations to all journalists who, irrespective of their nationality, stand for the truth, President Erdoğan stated, "The significance of strategic communication is the most critical lesson that the recent critical developments, particularly in Gaza, have taught us. We have collectively observed that war, conflict, assaults, and defences are not confined to the front lines. Collective action is required to combat the destructive effects of disinformation, which undermines democratic processes and violates the rights and liberties of individuals. The Directorate of Communications hosted the Strategic Communication Summit for the third time, and I consider it to be of the utmost importance in this regard."
President Erdoğan expressed his wish that the discussions of the summit, themed "Global Response to Hybrid Threats: Stability, Security, Solidarity," would be beneficial, and his gratitude to all speakers and guests who would contribute to the summit.