Turkey launches website to report Islamophobia in games

By Merve Yildizalp

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey has started a mechanism to report Islamophobic content in digital games, Youth and Sports Minister Akif Cagatay Kilic told Anadolu Agency on Thursday.

Kilic said video games with Islamophobic content can now be reported at www.oyunlardaislamofobi.com.

The minister highlighted the dangers of Islamophobic content in digital games.

"Digital games are now being used as a tool to spread Islamophobia by the West. Therefore, we have stepped in and taken action to save our children and youngsters from this trap in digital games. We have started awareness about this issue as a first step. We have prepared a brochure in this context," Kilic said.

The minister said Islamophobic content in popular games was harming children.

"We have determined that our [Quran] holy book and places were professionally placed in these games' visuals as a perception of fear and violence,” he said. "Violence, terrorism and Islamophobia have been imposed on youngsters through digital games and an ugly perception is being created against our holy religion by weaving it into our children's subconsciousness," the minister said.

Kilic also emphasized that this issue must be seriously tackled around the world, including by global bodies such as the United Nations.

"We have found many negative contents [in digital games] such as blowing up of our [mosque] minarets, use of the Azaan [Muslim call for prayer and] references to the door of Kaaba, verses of Quran and the names of Allah," Kilic said.

The minister noted the digital gaming sector in Turkey is worth $440 million; globally, the figure is $100 billion.

"As far as I know, there are 1.5 billion digital gamers in the world. This figure is around 22 million in Turkey. These people are spending 39 million hours on games per day," Kilic said.

He said video game developers using Islamophobic content would also be approached and warned against such material in their games. He hoped the firms would heed their warnings and take the necessary steps.

The sports minister said digital games also had many positive effects and benefits such as boosting a person’s mental faculties, problem solving capacity, boosting multi-tasking, quick thinking and analysis capabilities; however, he said there were also some harmful aspects such as racism and discrimination; effects of violence and sexual content apart from health problems and academic failures linked to gaming.