President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a speech at the opening session of the 4^th International Technology Addiction, hosted by the Turkish Green Crescent (Yeşilay) in Istanbul with the participation of First Lady Emine Erdoğan, Deputy Prime Minister Recep Akdağ, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Berat Albayrak and his wife Esra Albayrak, and AK Party MP Nabi Avcı.

Behind every invention lies the mentality and worldview that brings that invention into existence, President Erdoğan stated, underlining that the main reason behind Muslims not spearheading the efforts concerning the development of such weapons of mass destruction as atom bombs and nuclear missiles is because “this kind of technology is, first and foremost, contrary to Muslims’ mentality as well as to their view of humankind and nature.”

Noting that the power struggle in the world necessitates countries to possess this kind of weapons even if they don’t so desire, President Erdoğan stated: “What we must actually oppose is the mentality which creates atom bombs and deems their employment against innocent people legitimate, as much as the atom bomb itself.” The President went on to say: “When we look at the mentalities that today uphold the prohibition of nuclear warheads or nuclear weapons, we see that one of them has 15,000 or 16,000 nuclear warheads. The other one has 12,500 nuclear warheads, with another one possessing 7,500 nuclear warheads. Yet, they say, ‘You can’t have it.’ But you yourselves have it. The number is disastrous... On the one hand you will have the right to use it anytime anywhere, and on the other hand you will say ‘others can’t have it!’ They immediately start to shake finger at others. This is where the problem lies. This, too, is an addiction. We should dwell on this. Let me give it a name: mental addiction. What we actually must fight against is turning technology into a tool that drags mankind towards his own doomsday.”

The President added: “We cannot allow technology to become the purpose of life, ceasing to be a tool facilitating human’s life. The gravest danger we face today is the raising of technological devices, which are products of human consciousness, to the same ontological level as that of humankind and regarding and treating them as if they were living beings.” (ILKHA)