Social media makes anxious...

For more than 10 years, Turkey has been celebrating World Press Freedom Day as "the country with the most journalists in prisons".

It has left China behind in this area for 5 years. Of course, the other one of the "two states of one nation" could not lag behind in this process: as it has proved by falling to 168th place in "Freedom of Speech and Expression". Not content with this, the media agenda of "two states of one nation" is the same: to end insults and swearing. If we need to control social media more, we will not hesitate to do so.

Mahir Ünal, one of the ideologues of the ruling party in this field, shared the "Ethical Rules on Social Media" prepared by himself on Twitter. It seems there is no difference between the "rules" proposed by Ünal and, for example, the "rules" of the Turkish Press Council. So why does an official of the ruling party prepare these "rules" for social media and invite users to follow them?

Undoubtedly, this initiative aims to "design" social media users. Because the Turkish Press Council, which is an NGO, on the one hand, controls media ethics, and on the other hand, fights for the release of imprisoned journalists. Since it is not funded from the budget (it seems that such a thing exists only in the country of which we are citizens), the government cannot instruct the Turkish Press Council.

The government does not bring any framework for the initiative this time. Because the number of social media users in society is growing day by day, YouTube ratings have long surpassed TV channels. Therefore, the design of social media begins with the motive of "preventing insults and swearing."

Unlike the other one of the "two states of one nation", the Turkish government is launching an initiative to "prevent swearing and insults on social media" by itself.

Although it is not clear exactly what is on the government's secret agenda with this manifesto, it is possible to guess: if the initiative does not achieve the desired result, it is likely that a bill will be submitted to Parliament and serious pressure will be created on social media.

Just as there are no media outlets left in Turkey to prevent this, the government has not heard from the Turkish Journalists' Association or the Turkish Press Council for a long time. If we are talking about the restriction of rights on social media, can social media users organize among themselves and prevent it? Personally, I do not exaggerate the possibilities of social media users when I say "they can". But first of all, as Hüsnü Mahalli noted in his column in Korkusuz on May 3, the question must be answered: who swears, who insults?

The question is not over: who causes swearing, who causes insults? The answers to these interrelated questions are so simple that without taking the time to answer it, let us continue with the most basic question about the nature of the media: can there be swearing and insults in any media organization founded with the capital of its owner? Does the owner allow swearing and insults in his media organization? If he allows it, then by himself, he has someone swear and insult.

No other option is possible. Let those who do not believe compare the media outlets whose owners are unknown in Azerbaijan and media outlets whose real owners are unknown in Turkey, as well as the media outlets whose owners are known in Azerbaijan and media outlets whose owners are known in Turkey by putting them side by side. After seeing the results, there will be no need to look for an answer to the question - "Who swears or has someone swear?"

On World Press Freedom Day on May 3, writing about this subject hurts any honest journalist. In "two states of one nation", which have a deep-rooted press tradition, these tragic scenes did not appear in 3 days, it is the result of 15 years of processes in one of them and the result of 25 years of processes in the other. It is as if we are re-learning the letters of the alphabet and repeating: those who rule the country have all the privileges that the "silent majority" in society does not have.

After so many privileges, the creation of another "pro-media" wrecks the balance in society and locks the only door of the "silent majority". Therefore, the greatest good of any government for its country is to give the media to open entrepreneurship as much as possible. Then everyone will see whether there will be swearing or insults.

I wish May 3 of this year to cause it...