The discussion, which started over the photo of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk on the official Discord server of the popular war and strategy game Hearts of Iron IV, quickly attracted a great reaction. While a player’s use of an Atatürk photo in his profile caused the moderation to intervene on the grounds of “controversial historical figure”, it was claimed that the ban was offered to be lifted on the condition that the photo was removed. As the debate escalated, it was reported that the official Discord server temporarily stopped accepting new members, and negative evaluations and boycott calls were made on the game’s Steam page.
“IF YOU REMOVE THE PHOTO OF ATATURK, YOUR BAN WILL BE REMOVED”
The incident became even more remarkable when the Turkish player objected to the ban. One of the server moderators stated that Ataturk was a “controversial” historical figure and therefore his real photo could not be used as a profile image.
The moderation informed the player that the ban could be lifted if he removed the Ataturk image from his profile photo. It was stated that the Ataturk visual in the game itself could be used.
The user requested an appeal via the “HOI Ban Appeal” bot to lift the ban. In the response given by moderator chakerathe, it was stated that the user should remove the real Ataturk image in his profile photo in order to get his account back. The moderator included the following statements in his statement:
“Ataturk cannot be used as a profile photo on the server because it is considered controversial. Real-life images of controversial people who lived during or after the era in which the game is set are not allowed. However, I do not prevent you from using the game’s default Ataturk image on the server if you wish. If you switch to that or use another unrelated image, I may unban you.”
During the objection process, chakerathe, a member of the moderation team, detailed the reason for the ban and made the following claims and defenses in a historical context:
“He was a member of the Committee of Union and Progress during the Armenian Genocide, it is debatable whether he supported or was involved in these events. In order to prevent such discussions and aggression towards people who talk about them, depictions of Ataturk other than in-game events or visuals are banned.”
So in summary, the moderator claimed that this decision was not personal, but was based on the presenter’s principles of “Rule 2 – Avoid Controversial Topics” (the ban on discussing religion, politics or controversial topics in real life).
After the development was heard on social media and the Turkish gamer community, many users reacted to the situation and opened support/objection tickets to the authorities.
In the general response published by the Hearts of Iron IV moderation team on the server/support channel, the approach was expressed as follows:
“Ataturk, like Karl Marx, was banned because he is a controversial and polarizing historical figure who is highly relevant to modern politics. We would be happy to hear your concerns and questions. Our moderation team does not target Turks. We take action against people due to raids/rule violations, not because of their identity, nationality or race.”
As objections increased and users expressed their reactions to the decision in the server channels and support system, the moderation team took the following steps:
Opened objection tickets, criticism messages and reaction contents were cleared and hidden from the channels.
Many Turkish users who objected and reacted to the decision were permanently removed from the server.
In order to prevent the intense reaction and participation flow, the Hearts of Iron IV official Discord server has been temporarily closed to new members.
After the crisis reached large audiences on social media, content producer and publisher Ahmet Conclusion, known by the nickname “Jahrein”, announced that he stepped in on the issue.
