Parody twitter accounts of Turkish PM Erdoğan suspended

ANKARA

With more than 3 million followers, the verified @RT_Erdogan account is one of the most popular Turkish accounts on the website.

Lawyers for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have filed lawsuits against parody accounts set up in the name of the Turkish leader, Anadolu Agency has reported.

An attorney for the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) leader noticed the fake accounts on the microblogging website, prompting him to apply to the Ankara Public Prosecutor’s Office to have the sites closed.

Ali Özkaya declared that the fake accounts, “@RTE_Basgan” and “@RT_Erdoyan” used Erdoğan’s official name, as well as his photos.

The attorney has also filed a complaint against those who opened the accounts, accusing them of “insulting a public official based on his public position” on the basis of the sites’ deprecating content.

The two parody accounts, which had thousands of followers, were suspended after being reported to Twitter.

Erdoğan is not an active Twitter user, but he has a verified account that is controlled by his office, which sends updates from his speeches. With more than 3 million followers, the verified @RT_Erdogan account is one of the most popular Turkish accounts on the website.

However, Erdoğan is not a fan of social media. Last month, he described Twitter as “a menace” in a television interview.

“There is a menace called Twitter. Unmitigated lies are there [on Twitter],” Erdoğan said. “The thing that is called social media is a troublemaker in societies today.”

He criticized false tweets being posted on Twitter, saying people were being misinformed by lies when they did not catch subsequent corrections.