President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stressed the importance of press freedom and pluralism with regards to the wellbeing of society.

"We desire a freer and more pluralist Turkish press where all ideas are represented," Erdoğan said, addressing a journalism award ceremony in the capital Ankara.

He reiterated that international media outlets deliberately choose not to cover positive developments in Turkey.

Meanwhile, Erdoğan noted that technological developments and the spread of information through social media outlets have positive and negative outcomes as it is difficult to verify everything on the web.

"Fake news does not only threaten people, but it also poses a threat to democracy," he said, adding that Turkey is not prone to the danger posed by fake news.