Emine Erdoğan meets with spouses of NATO leaders at Çankaya Palace

Emine Erdoğan, wife of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said: “Child safety should not be a feature that is added later to digital platforms, but rather the first principle in their design. The black box of algorithms must be opened and technology companies must subject the social consequences of their products to independent supervision.”

Emine Erdoğan hosted the spouses of the heads of state and government participating in the summit at Çankaya Palace within the framework of the 36th NATO Summit.

She welcomed the spouses of the leaders individually when they entered the palace and then participated with them in a session titled “Children, Technology and Security; Protecting the Future Generation.”

In her opening speech, Emine Erdoğan expressed her pleasure at hosting the spouses of the leaders on the occasion of the NATO Summit.

She expressed her gratitude to the spouses of the leaders for accepting her invitation and thanked each and every one of them.

Noting that less than half a minute had passed since the beginning of her speech, Emine Erdoğan said: “According to UNICEF statistics, even in this short period of time, 60 more children have become acquainted with the Internet and entered an unlimited world. This lack of limits, as well as opportunities, also includes risks. The amount of exposure, guidance and tracking of data is also unlimited.

Emphasizing that children look at the screen while the screen also monitors them, she stated: “Algorithms that operate on the basis of the attention economy shape the minds and emotional worlds of children. Research shows that one third of young people prefer to talk to artificial intelligence than to humans. Artificial intelligence has now become the confidant and advisor of the new generation. Therefore, we must ask who is educating the minds and consciences of our children? The issue is not only dangerous content; it is also the transformation of children’s attention, curiosity and time into the raw materials of the new era. It is also a matter of concern that only a few companies located in a small area decide what billions of children will see and believe. In the face of this digital colonization, whose land is the mind and whose mine is attention, the most vulnerable group are children.

Emphasizing that governments cannot be mere spectators in the face of such a major transformation, Emine Erdoğan said: “Do we give our children unapproved drugs? Do we determine their dosage without consulting a doctor? The amount and type of content that children encounter through screens should not be in the hands of companies that only think about profit. Companies are responsible to their shareholders and governments are responsible to their nations. Creating a human-centered framework for the protection of children in the digital age is also one of the responsibilities of governments.

Turkey is trying to fulfill this responsibility in the best way possible. We have taken this fight to the international arena through the “Convention on the Rights of the Child in the Digital World”. We have also restricted access to social media for children under 15 through internal reforms and have set requirements such as age verification and parental supervision for digital platforms.

Recalling that history has repeatedly shown that the creation of any power also requires accepting responsibility for its consequences, she said: “Any attitude that shirks this responsibility has ultimately imposed heavy costs on humanity. However, no law and no filter can fill the void in a child’s heart like love and real human relationships. A more powerful shield than laws against digital colonialism is a heart that has strong ties and a mind that has the power to question.”

Emine Erdoğan added: “Children who acquire these developmental capabilities from an early age will become conscious actors of the digital world, rather than becoming objects of it. Our goal is not to deprive children of the possibilities of the new era, but to adapt these possibilities to their dignity, security and growth.”

Finally, referring back to the figure of 60 children at the beginning of his speech, he said: “In the time I have been giving this speech, more than 300 more children have entered that digital world. What awaits them in that world depends on the will we show today. I deeply believe that we will take on this responsibility, which cannot be borne by one person, together and build a safer, more humane and colonial-free digital future for our children.”
After the roundtable, Emine Erdoğan met and talked with the leaders’ spouses at a luncheon.

The leaders’ spouses also got to know the Turkish cuisine by tasting selected dishes inspired by Turkish food culture.