Erdoğan to Foreign Media: We Expect You to Chase the Truth

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President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has held a press conference for foreign media representatives in İstanbul.

He said that journalism is "the quest for truth" as every reporter is a "person who chases the truth."

Doing false and manipulative reports is to violate the individual's right to access to true information, he added.

"A media that lost its credibility would do no good for society and humanity. The media which is defined as the fourth power in democracies should not be turned into an instrument to design the politics.

"We never opposed and do not oppose the media organs checking the politicians in the name of the people, being watchdogs in the name of the nation.

"We oppose the understanding of journalism that acts like an anti-democratic organ of tutelage. We object to the media, which is supposed to be a tool for checking [the government], to be turned into a tool to shape politics. We oppose the arrogant, biased and ill-minded understanding of journalism that acts like an antidemocratic tutelage organ on the elected politicians.

"We don't regard those who act like politicians whose only aim is to overthrow the government as journalists. Those who use their pens and cameras under the command of the terrorist organizations can never be journalists in our view. This is the point those who often criticize us miss.

"We ask you to approach issues regarding our country in a fair way and evaluate the news regarding us within the framework of ethics. In an era the perception prevails over the facts, we expect you to chase the truth." (EMK/VK)