President Erdoğan's boycott call becomes a social media talking point: 'Our greatest trump card'

Following the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office's decision to launch an ex officio investigation into boycott calls made on social media on charges of 'inciting the public to hatred and hostility,' social media users began sharing posts where AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and other AKP figures had previously called for boycotts.

12punto 01 April 2025

While citizens continue their boycotts to express their reactions by exercising their fundamental rights and freedoms, the government continues to take harsh steps regarding these boycott calls.

Following the announcement by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office that an ex officio investigation would be launched into boycott calls made on social media, social media users began sharing the 'boycott calls' made by AKP figures, primarily President Erdoğan.

Social media users, who shared the boycott call made by AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in January to curb exorbitant prices, reacted to the double standards being applied.

Erdoğan had used the following expressions in his boycott call in January:

"One of the effective methods to bring those who sell expensive products to their knees is a boycott. Our greatest trump card against those who engage in opportunism is to use the freedom not to purchase."

THE DIRECTORATE OF COMMUNICATIONS HAD ALSO SHARED IT

The Directorate of Communications had also announced the boycott call made by Erdoğan on his own social media account with the words...

Our President Erdoğan:

VARANK'S BOYCOTT CALL IS ALSO BEING SHARED

Social media users also shared an old boycott call by AKP Bursa Deputy Mustafa Varank. In his old boycott call, Varank uses the following expressions:

"Whether to boycott or not is a personal choice. No one has the right to exert social pressure by asking why you are boycotting."