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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused the West of "double standards" regarding media freedom, Anadolu Agency reports.

At the Anatolian Media Awards ceremony in Ankara last night, Erdogan said: "Those who accuse Turkey of censorship are silent about those who impose real censorship. We are witnessing the same double standard in a social media company that was bought recently." Erdogan said, referring to Twitter and the recent release of internal company files.

"One after another, it is revealed who this social media platform, which supposedly never compromises on freedom and privacy, does business with, what it serves behind the scenes, and how it censors people and ideas," commented the Turkish president.

He noted that both international media bodies and human rights organizations are silent on such scandals.

"Those who usurped the right of communication of billions of people continue to talk about democracy and freedoms as if nothing happened," Erdogan said.

The Turkish president also criticized the attitude of some Western countries towards the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETO), which Ankara says organized the 2016 coup attempt.

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"We all know how fascistic they are when it comes to themselves and their interests, those who criticize democracy, human rights and freedom of the press in Turkey," Erdogan said.

"Those who relentlessly criticized us after the failed coup on July 15, when more than 250 people were killed, raised a fuss in the face of rumors of a coup in their own country," he commented.

In relation to the protests in Istanbul's Gezi Park in 2013, the Turkish president said that those who tried to portray "the looters in Turkey as heroes" had labeled the demonstrators as terrorists when similar events took place in Paris and Washington.

"We have not seen or heard the international media, which called the 'apostles of democracy' the 'yellow vest' protesters who set fire to the French streets, to call those who stormed the US Capitol building with arms 'freedom fighters,'" Erdoğan commented. .

Recep Erdogan

double standards