While ravaged by the most destructive forest fires in its recent history, Turkey is also igniting on Twitter, between controversy and suspicion of manipulation.

In a deeply divided country where the slightest event can make supporters and opponents of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan jump, the hashtag #HelpTurkey ("Help Turkey") on Twitter is at the origin of a new controversy and an investigation by Parquet.

The Turkish president, who is facing one of his biggest crises in eighteen years in power, seemed outraged that his country might need help.

"In response to that, there is only one thing to say: Strong Turkey," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said of the #HelpTurkey tweets, which he called "terror of lies spread from America. , Europe and certain other places ”.

In the process, the prosecutor's office said it would conduct an investigation to determine whether the tweets were intended to "create anxiety, fear and panic among the population, and to humiliate the public. Turkish government ”.

Media reduce coverage of fires under threat

At the same time, the media regulator threatened to fine TV stations which continued to broadcast live images of the blazes and publish articles "which generate fear and worry the population". Most chains bowed to order, reducing their coverage of the fires that killed eight people and destroyed large areas of forest along the coast. The government came under criticism when it was found that Turkey no longer had an operational water bomber plane and for rejecting several offers of external assistance, including that of Greece, a regional rival.

The action of President Erdogan, who came to power by campaigning against corruption, of which his opponents today accuse him, suddenly appeared disconnected from reality.

His trip to the areas affected by the fires, in a bus under strong police escort, equipped with megaphones, from which he was filmed throwing bags of tea to the inhabitants in the middle of the night, created a new controversy on social networks.

In defense, the government maintains that the #HelpTurkey hashtag is powered by fake accounts used to manipulate public opinion.

Turn of the screw on social networks

Marc Owen Jones, professor at Hamad bin Khalifa University in Qatar, estimated during a press conference organized by the presidency that nearly 5% of #HelpTurkey tweets were posted by fake accounts. Digital law expert Yaman Akdeniz has doubts about the explanation of fake accounts. "While the controversy agitates social networks, the fires continue in real life," he underlines. “In reality,” he concludes, “our government machine has serious operating problems, and will undoubtedly introduce a new crime and then a new disinformation law, with the aim of further muzzling critical voices on social networks. ".

The controversy around #HelpTurkey comes in the context of an additional turn of the screw on social networks, a place still lively of debate in a country where the media favorable to the government dominate.

After initially opposing it, Twitter, Facebook and others eventually bowed to new laws that require platforms to appoint local representatives who can take legal action in order to remove problematic posts.

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Miscellaneous

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