Turkish military wages war on social media
Turkey's military is still struggling to come to terms with the rules of Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites.
It was in August 2011 when the general in charge of media and public relations in the headquarters of the Turkish Chief of Staff roared: “I don’t care how you do it. You can call or write to Twitter but my order is clear. Those tweets must be removed.”
The project officer was taken aback. First, he thought of explaining how Twitter is part of social media, how difficult it would be to argue with it and how Twitter advocates a free debate platform and was not likely to comply. But he thought better of it, responded with regulatory “Sir, yes, sir,” and left the room.
Thus began the saga of the project officer. He found out Twitter did not have a phone number for complaints and did not have an office in Turkey. He sent four emails to the Twitter Help Center, which were all rejected. A week later, the same general summoned the officer again and asked whether his order was implemented. The young officer tried to explain all he did but the general was clearly not pleased. The project officer concluded: “Sir, this social media is a brand-new world for us soldiers. Sadly, things don’t move on orders in that world.”
I was that project officer. Not only the Turkish army but modern, highly disciplined and strictly hierarchical armies of the world have yet to fully understand what social media is all about. They are trying to make up their minds whether social media is a threat or an opportunity.
