Reuters reporter gains fans after row with PM

Reuters correspondent Birsen Altayli (photo)​, demonstrated the power of online social media when she gained a following of tens of thousands after Turkish prime minister Tayyip Erdogan argued with her at a press conference in Istanbul on Monday.

Before Altayli’s questions to the Turkish leader she had 195 followers on Twitter. The number soared to more than 90,000 after the argument, which was broadcast on Turkish television.

Erdogan accused her of misinforming Reuters about the situation in the country during violent anti-government unrest. Hundreds of police and protesters have been injured in the riots since Friday. The unrest began a week ago with a demonstration against construction in a park in an Istanbul square and grew into mass protests against what opponents call Erdogan’s authoritarianism.

“Don’t tell me that all of society [is supporting the protests], I will not believe it,” he told Altayli. “There might be extensions of ideological structures [behind the protests]. This might have gotten them to revolt. You have to see that. What haven’t we done in this country that [led the protesters to] take such a step?” 

Erdogan has dismissed the protests as the work of secularist enemies who were not reconciled to his Islamist AKP party’s electoral mandate. ■