Twitter trend spreads to politics in Turkey

According to Newsweek, the viral Twitter trend started with the American railroad company Amtrak tweeting “trains.” The simple tweet was soon followed by major companies also tweeting one-word descriptions including CNN tweeting: “Breaking news” with no other context.

Among world leaders, President Joe Biden tweeted “democracy,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz “respect,” Ukrainian President Zelenskyy “freedom,” and British PM Boris Johnson, as a response to Zelenskyy tweeted “Ukraine.”

President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan tweeted “Turkey,” to which, First Lady Emine Erdogan replied with “RTE,” her husband’s initials.

Another reply to President Erdogan came from the leader of the main opposition party CHP, Kemal Kilicdaroglu. He replied to Erdogan’s tweet with “Price hike,” criticizing the president by making a reference to the frequent price hikes on consumer goods implemented by the government.

Tweets from other opposition party leaders also included criticisms of the government. Good Party leader Meral Aksener tweeted “liberty,” Future Party leader Ahmet Davutoglu tweeted “election,” and Felicity Party leader Temel Karamollaoglu tweeted “enough.”

The tweets from the HDP included phrases commonly used in their slogans. Co-chair of HDP Pervin Buldan tweeted “Justice” while her fellow Co-chair Mithat Sancar tweeted “Peace,” and the imprisoned former Co-chair of HDP Selahattin Demirtas tweeted “Longing.”

Among the ministers of Turkey, the Minister of Finance and Treasury Nureddin Nebati tweeted “Sparkle,” referring to statements he made in December 2021 on a TRT broadcast. When asked about the positive data regarding the Turkish economy, Nebati had replied, “do you see the sparkle in my eyes?” He had added that the economy is about the sparkle in the eyes.

Fahrettin Altun tweeting the word “Truth” was found ironic by some Twitter users since Altun is the head of media and communications of the President of Turkey. Some users replied with the word “Post-” to him, referring to the concept of “post-truth.”