Erdoğan warns of ‘tech oligarchs’ targeting young people

ISTANBUL

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan warned on Oct. 10 that “tech oligarchs” were targeting young people and seeking to shape the future according to their own interests.

Speaking at the Istanbul Congress Center during the 75th anniversary gathering of the İlim Yayma Society, Erdoğan said protecting children from such influences was increasingly important.

“Our young people are the target audience of these tech oligarchs, who see the world as a playground where they can act as they please,” he said.

Erdoğan referred to recent incidents at schools, saying they showed the danger posed by what he described as the “poisonous seeds” of this mentality.

He said technology’s influence on daily life was growing and artificial intelligence was bringing profound changes.

How Türkiye protected its national identity against global cultural pressures would help shape its future, he added.

Erdoğan described the young people involved in TEKNOFEST, Türkiye’s aerospace and technology festival, as the country’s strongest safeguard against what he called a domineering mindset that treated people, nature and even space as commodities.

Turning to İlim Yayma’s work, Erdoğan praised its founders’ aim of raising educated, responsible young people with strong moral values.

“The history of İlim Yayma is also the history of Türkiye,” he said, linking the society’s work to the country’s development in education and civil society.

Founded in 1951, the society helped build more than 100 imam hatip religious schools, Erdoğan said.

He also praised its scholarships and dormitories for enabling tens of thousands of young people to continue their education.