Communications director says Türkiye must assert sovereignty in cyberspace

ISTANBUL

Türkiye must assert its sovereignty over cyberspace through urgent legal measures, Communications Director Burhanettin Duran said on April 24, arguing that countries now treat the digital domain as a matter of national security.

Speaking at an event in Istanbul, Duran said every country now viewed cyberspace as a domain of sovereignty and was taking steps accordingly.

He said Türkiye, too, was obliged to assert its sovereignty in this field through recent and upcoming legal regulations.

Duran said the country was facing “multi-dimensional” challenges in the digital sphere, ranging from the protection of children online to the safeguarding of critical national capabilities, and added that urgent steps were needed.

He also said digitalization had made it easier to shape public perception through algorithms and argued that social media had increasingly been used as a tool in hybrid warfare in recent years.

Duran has previously warned that social media is governed by algorithms that can affect privacy and digital sovereignty, and has also said wars are no longer fought only on physical battlefields but increasingly through narratives, digital platforms and perception management.