#HelpTurkey hashtag under investigation for 'spreading fear' about wildfires

[Eugene]

Source: Agence France

HelpTurkey hashtag under investigation for ‘spreading fear’ about wildfires

Agence France-Presse
Sun 8 Aug 2021 05.21 BST

Prosecutors in Turkey have launched an investigation into a social media hastag critical of the government’s allegedly bungled response to the country’s devastating wildfires, accusing it of spreading “anxiety and fear”.

The hashtag HelpTurkey exploded when rightwing president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was pictured on a tour of the damaged region under heavy police escort, tossing bags of tea to locals out of a moving bus in the middle of the night while a megaphone announced his presence.

“Help us!!!!!” Turkish comedian Enis Arikan tweeted hours after Erdoğan’s visit in a typical HelpTurkey post. “We need planes urgently. We only have one world.”

But in a deeply divided country where even minor events spark culture wars between Erdoğan’s supporters and opponents, the hashtag turned into a scandal, leading to a prosecutors’ investigation.

The powerful Turkish leader, unexpectedly facing one of the most serious challenges of his 18-year rule, sounded scandalised by the idea that his country needed help to cope with the worst fires in living memory, which have left eight people dead along the south coast.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/08/helpturkey-hashtag-under-investigation-for-spreading-fear-about-wildfires

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Alternate AFP link: #HelpTurkey: Hashtag sparks culture war over Turkish fires

"Erdoğan... tossing bags of tea to locals out of a moving bus in the middle of the night while a megaphone announced his presence."

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

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