On weekend, main opposition leader (CHP) Kemal Kilicdaroglu outed 7K paid AKP trolls, one which allegedly cursed him 4K times in a year. As Erdogan and AKP stumble in the polls and the mainstream media, which is still enslaved to them loses traffic, new instruments are brought in to maintain the advantage in the propaganda war. The latest trick concerns a 10-year-old child insulting main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chair Kemal Kilicdaroglu, during an opening ceremony in Turkey’s Black Sea province of Trabzon on Sunday (January 30).
Children’s rights groups have harshly criticized President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdogan for giving a 10-year-old child the microphone.
The Children’s Rights Center of the Diyarbakir Bar Association has defined the incident as “raising the child in an environment of hatred”.
The Center has said, “We do not accept that a child was abused by political actors by being brought before the public at a rally for the sake of political purposes, that children are turned into the objects of daily policies and that the struggle in the field of children’s rights is disregarded.”
It has added, “In the incidents reported in the press, we see that considerations such as child perception, approach to children, communication with children, the best interests of children, child abuse and the agency of children are not taken into account to a considerable extent.”
Viewing the incident “as a reflection of the child being raised in an environment of hatred, above all,” the Children’s Rights Center has called on “parents and society to be meticulous about child raising and keep children away from violent environments and hate speech”, saying: “Children are too precious to be used for the sake of adults’ political purposes”.
‘Don’t share the images’
The Center has underlined in its statement that “it is not right for the persons and institutions obliged to develop and introduce policies oriented towards protecting children to use a child at a rally in this way.”
“This situation shows how far political actors are from child perception and that they do not recognize the child as a subject,” the Children’s Rights Center of the Diyarbakir Bar Association has indicated further.
“Lastly, we would like to stress that we need to show our reaction to the images where the child was abused for the sake of politics by not sharing the images because the images of abuse and violence reproduce them and will also maltreat the child,” the Center has said in conclusion.
The Palace spin doctors seem to have grasped the cold-heartedness of using underage children in propaganda battles. Erdogan’s powerful media coordinator Fahrettin Altun reportedly called all major pro-AKP outlets urging them not to print or broadcast the incident.
Erdogan’s fails to grasp that nothing short of improving the economic conditions of the nation will get him votes. After a brief surge in early January polls, driven by huge wage and pension hikes, the latest two polls (by AREA and Gezici) b reveal him and his party stumbling once again.
Bianet , PA Turkey staff, Korkusuz daily
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