We will continue to strengthen the visibility and presence of "Türkiye" brand on all international platforms, said Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on Thursday.

"The initiative to use our country's name as 'Türkiye' in foreign languages under the leadership of our President Erdoğan, was an important step. We will continue to work hard with all our foreign representations on this issue," said Çavuşoğlu during his address at the 13th Ambassadors' Conference in the capital, Ankara. In early June, the government made an application to the United Nations to change the country’s name from Turkey to Türkiye.

Çavuşoğlu’s remarks were made during the session with Presidency Communications Director Fahrettin Altun, where the two also discussed Türkiye’s fight against misinformation.

"We are faced with a phenomenon called beyond the truth. Disinformation and infollution have become a fact of life," Çavuşoğlu said.

He stated that Türkiye is frequently exposed to negative campaigns and he also noted that from the fight against terrorism to the 1915 events, from the Karabakh war to the Russia-Ukraine war, it has been the target of smear campaigns.

He pointed out that they work in close cooperation with the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) and Anadolu Agency (AA), in addition to this, Çavuşoğlu said that they have made exemplary cooperation especially at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum (ADF).

Çavuşoğlu stated that their cooperation with the Directorate of Communications would continue in the upcoming period.

Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun said they are in exemplary cooperation and coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to better explain Türkiye's theses in the international arena and combat disinformation against Türkiye.

Altun emphasized that the transformation in the international system has also brought about a communication-based struggle.

"We see this in all our activities. Now, information wars appear very quickly and have become a 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," he said.

"We want to be the information epicenter in the world"

Altun noted that in this process, social media-based operations have become a means of intervention in the domestic policies of countries. "Türkiye is the country most affected by this process and in this sense, is the country most exposed to systematic disinformation campaigns. Another important factor in this process, where a communication-based transformation is taking place and communication has started to dominate the international arena, is another important factor in the economic and political activities of countries' brand value and public diplomacy activities," he said.

Altun stated that the world public's interest in regional and global crises such as the Covid-19 epidemic, climate change and food crisis increased their need for information.

"At this point, we want to be the information epicenter in the world. We have carried out many projects on this subject and have seen that it is important to inform the international media directly from Istanbul and Ankara. The Karabakh War and our struggle in the Aegean are the most important examples of this," he said.

"We also think that strengthening the technological infrastructure and creating new opportunities and capabilities are extremely important. It is vital to provide accurate information about Türkiye in a timely manner and to inform the addressee at this point. We strive for this. Of course, we are also fighting against disinformation and hate speech on a global scale," he said.

"We must emphasize the curbing of outside interference in social media. At this point, we have to carry out more intense activities than we envisaged. Because with the operations carried out over social media, the domestic politics of many countries are being destabilized and their democracy is being targeted, and at this point, I would like to express clearly that we are facing a similar process,"he said.

He said that as Türkiye’s diplomacy wins, they will also win in the field of communication. "We will strive for Turkish diplomacy to win. We believe that Türkiye will be the leading country in solving problems such as global energy crisis, food crisis and international conflicts in the future. According to this, we have formulated a new campaign called ‘Türkiye Leads.’ With this campaign, we will work to announce the efforts of Türkiye for world peace in all crisis areas under the leadership of President Erdoğan in the global area," he said.