President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan slammed international media outlets for publishing "sneaky" articles to manage public perception ahead of Türkiye's upcoming elections.
"International media organizations, which do not even properly deal with the elections in their own countries, follow the election process in Türkiye every day," Erdoğan said, adding that they attempt to manage public perception with "despicable headlines and sneaky articles."
His remarks followed a recent article published by the London-based weekly The Economist, calling on outsiders to pay attention to Türkiye's upcoming elections and claiming that the country is "on the brink of disaster" under Erdoğan. Later, the president criticized The Economist, saying, "The British magazine cannot determine the fate of Türkiye."
Communications Director Fahrettin Altun slammed The Economist for engaging in "cheap" anti-Türkiye propaganda over its latest issue.
"Here we go again! The Economist recycles its intellectually lazy, dull and purposefully ignorant depiction of Türkiye. Instead, they seem obligated to announce the end of Turkish democracy through regurgitating cliches, misinformation and blatant propaganda. Outrageous headlines and provocative imagery might help them sell their so-called journal, so we congratulate them on their ingenious marketing techniques! But we must remind audiences that this is sensationalist journalism based on cheap propaganda and disinformation," Altun said on Twitter.
Presidential Spokesperson Ibrahim Kalın also slammed The Economist's cover. "Western media try to spread a viewpoint trying to put the Turkish nation's free will under the yoke. This is nothing new. We are accustomed (to such reports). They do it before every election and will do so in the future. But they will be proven wrong; just as they were proven wrong in the past," he told an event in Istanbul on Friday.
Kalın also said, "some people were disturbed" by "Türkiye's call for reform in an unjust established global order.
