By Janet Ekstract
ISTANBUL- Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu said a major priority at the Turkish Foreign Ministry is to strengthen and expand the visibility of the brand “Türkiye” in the international arena. Çavuşoğlu made his remarks on Thursday during a talk he gave at the ongoing 13th Ambassadors Conference being hosted in Ankara. As Çavuşoğlu explained: “The initiative to use our country’s name as ‘Türkiye’ in foreign languages under the leadership of our President Erdogan was an important step. We will continue to work hard with all our foreign representatives on this issue.”In the early part of June, the Turkish government applied to the UN to change its country name to Türkiye rather than Turkey.
A major topic discussed at the conference is the government’s efforts to combat misinformation with Presidency Communications Director Fahrettin Altun and Çavuşoğlu commenting. As Çavuşoğlu emphasized: “We are faced with a phenomenon called ‘beyond the truth.’ Disinformation and infollution have become a fact of life.” He said that his country is being exposed to onslaughts of negative information. He added that historically, Türkiye has been subject to various ‘smear’ campaigns and that his ministry works in close cooperation with the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) and Anadolu Agency (AA) on such issues. He said his office also cooperates with the Directorate of Communications which they will continue to do. Altun commented that the foreign ministry and his office are in excellent cooperation and coordination in combating disinformation and on international issues. He added that due to the 21stcentury digital age, that disinformation has become an even greater problem that needs to be dealt with in greater detail. As he said: “We see this in all our activities. Now. Information wars appear very quickly and have become part of conventional wars. Information wars are increasingly turning into disinformation wars. The war between Russia and Ukraine actually showed us that the war on disinformation could dominate the international arena. Disinformation operations have started to become more organized and institutionalized day-by-day and unfortunately, they have become a part of international relations.” Altun explained that the new branding campaign is entitled “Türkiye Leads” with its goal to put the country where Europe and Asia meet – at the forefront of conflict resolution. As Altun emphasized, social media-based operations are now a means of interfering in a country’s domestic policies. He added that Türkiye is the country most affected by social media. In addition, he highlighted the fact that Türkiye is more exposed to systematic disinformation campaigns. He commented: “At this point, we want to be the information epicenter in the world.” Altun said Türkiye has done many projects in this area and realizes what’s most crucial is that international media get their information on Türkiye, directly from Istanbul and Ankara. He referred to the Karabakh War and the issues in the Aegean area as examples and said that’‘ strengthening technological infrastructure and creating new opportunities and capabilities are extremely important.”
The most crucial step is to give accurate information about Türkiye on a timely basis, he said. Altun reiterated that because of targeted disinformation, countries are being destabilized while democracies are being threatened. He mentioned that his country is combating hate speech and disinformation globally and hopes Türkiye will be the leader in conflict resolution in the current energy and food crises as well as in international conflicts. Altun added that as Türkiye gains in its diplomatic influence, it will also make greater strides in the communications field. “Türkiye Leads” he said, is a major step on the path for Türkiye to become a leader on the path to global peace in all conflicts that may arise around the world.
