Boycott Paradox

[Hezârfen Ahmed Çelebi]

I have decided to boycott all games and products developed or published by your company in response to the disrespectful and offensive remarks directed toward Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Türkiye.

Such statements are deeply offensive and demonstrate a serious lack of respect toward the historical and national values of millions of people in Türkiye. I find this conduct entirely unacceptable and will no longer support your company or its products.

I strongly urge your company to take responsibility for these remarks and issue an appropriate public apology.

[Mertcan]

Racism Against Turkish People Is Not Acceptable

Recently, I came across comments and moderation decisions in the Paradox community that raised serious concerns for me about the treatment of Turkish users. In particular, seeing remarks about Atatürk that I considered insulting, including comments reportedly made by people associated with the company, made me feel personally targeted as a Turkish player.

Discrimination or racism should not be acceptable regardless of who it is directed at. Criticism and political discussion are one thing; hostility toward people because of their nationality is another.

I’m starting this thread to hear other people’s experiences and perspectives. If you have additional context, evidence, or if there are any updates or responses from Paradox regarding this situation, please share them here. I’m also interested in hearing different views on what happened.

[MadNeutron]

++

[MadNeutron]

Racism Agains Turkish Players - Discord Users

Hello Everyone,

I am creating this thread to address the deeply troubling, discriminatory, and historically illiterate behavior displayed by Paradox Interactive and its moderation teams across their official community platforms (most notably the HoI4 Discord server).

For those unaware of recent events: Paradox moderation teams actively targeted and banned Turkish community members simply for having profile pictures of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk—labeling him a "controversial figure." Furthermore, absurd statements made by company personnel regarding national history have escalated this issue into full-blown revisionism.

To set the historical record straight: Atatürk is the founder of the Republic of Turkey who fought exclusively to defend his nation's sovereignty against invading imperialist forces during WWI and the Turkish War of Independence. In 1981, UNESCO unanimously defined him as "an extraordinary figure who promoted international understanding, cooperation, and world peace."

For a publisher that sells historical strategy games—frequently featuring or ignoring portraits of genuine dictators, war criminals, and notoriously controversial historical entities—to brand an internationally recognized symbol of peace and a legitimate founder of a state as "controversial" is an outrageous double standard and blatant xenophobia.

A developer specializing in history should respect history and its player base, rather than weaponizing arbitrary censorship against a specific nationality.


I have personally stopped playing Paradox titles, submitted an exception refund request citing publisher discrimination, and shared my review on Steam.

However, the goal here is not to dictate a single action to anyone, but to encourage every player who feels disturbed by this behavior to voice their own perspective through whichever legitimate channels they choose. If you find this selective censorship, double standard, and unjust banning of players unacceptable:

Express your thoughts and stance freely through Steam reviews and community discussion threads,

Contact Steam Support directly via support tickets or emails to raise awareness regarding the publisher's discriminatory community policies,

Exercise your individual consumer choices—whether that means evaluating refund options, holding off on future purchases, or raising awareness in your own circles.

Respect is a two-way street. Unless we actively voice our concerns, arbitrary censorship and publisher bias will remain unchallenged.

[Nats]

Not relevant here. Complain to them directly.

My view is a democratic world allows free speech, as long as it isn't hurtful to living people that is fine. This is where we want to be as a world, ie not what Trump is trying to do right now.

I do not see how remarks about a historical figure can radically affect any Turkish people living today. Feel free to criticise Elizabeth 1 or Churchill all you want, doesn't bother me in the slightest.

IE: Don't be a snowflake.

[SPACELORIAN]

Originally posted by Nats:

Not relevant here. Complain to them directly.

My view is a democratic world allows free speech, as long as it isn't hurtful to living people that is fine. This is where we want to be as a world, ie not what Trump is trying to do right now.

I do not see how remarks about a historical figure can radically affect any Turkish people living today. Feel free to criticise Elizabeth 1 or Churchill all you want, doesn't bother me in the slightest.

IE: Don't be a snowflake.

Insulting a leader and a whole group of people and fabricating claims that were lifted years ago by Armenia itself isn't free speech, it's called provocation.

IE: Don't ragebait

[SilverFish]

Mustafa Kemal was a member of the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), which initiated and implemented the Armenian genocide during the First World War,

The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily through the mass murder of around one million Armenians during death marches to the Syrian desert and the forced Islamization of others, primarily women and children.

so you call paradox Racist for banning ppl who use a guy as a profil pic that was a part of a committee that saw to killing around 1 million armenians out of racism.

you seem to be one of the ppl that only see racism when something happens to you,

[Nats]

Well you may be right you may be wrong, and there are two sides to every argument.

I am sure these three posts will all be locked shortly anyway so it really doesn't matter. This isn't the place for political discussions.

[ABoxFullOfKittens]

If you walk around looking for reasons to be offended you'll find them...

[SPACELORIAN]

Originally posted by Nats:

Well you maybe right you maybe wrong, and there are two sides to every argument.

I am sure these three posts will all be locked shortly anyway so it really doesn't matter. This isn't the place for political discussions.

Go to HoI 4 and EU4, doesn't look good for Paradox.

[MadNeutron]

I have no intention of entering a debate or prolonging this conversation, as neither of us needs to prove anything to the other. However, it is quite evident that there is a lack of research on your end. Simply researching the specific years during which Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was associated with CUP (Committee of Union and Progress) members would be more than enough.

Furthermore, I would like to point out that the Republic of Turkey’s success in fighting against imperialist forces during its founding should not be compared to countries striving to gain power by exploiting the world. As for the Armenian issue, I regretfully inform you that it was not a genocide, and researching the actual reasons why the Armenians had to be relocated will be helpful to you.

As a note: my writings contain no hate speech, nor do I harbor any negative ideas or views toward any race. We are all human and should not be judged by where we were born. Unfortunately, the fact that you directly brought up the Armenian issue as an example in response to my writing proves that you are someone who divides people based on their nationality.

Wishing you a life where you can continuously build upon your knowledge. Best regards.

[Nats]

"Historians generally separate Atatürk from the initial 1915 genocide blueprint, but many hold him and his nationalist movement accountable for severe war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and perpetuating the destruction and displacement of Anatolian Greeks and Armenians during the creation of the republic"

IE: He wasn't a nice bloke.

Great Britain committed loads of atrocities in their history, but do I feel the need to take over a forum about it ....

I think we should be concerned about current world atrocities, that are being committed at this very moment, not historical ones ....

That said I am out of here

[SPACELORIAN]

Originally posted by Nats:

"Historians generally separate Atatürk from the initial 1915 genocide blueprint, but many hold him and his nationalist movement accountable for severe war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and perpetuating the destruction and displacement of Anatolian Greeks and Armenians during the creation of the republic"

IE: He wasn't a nice bloke.

Great Britain committed loads of atrocities in their history, but do I feel the need to take over a forum about it ....

I think this is a bit simplistic. TOO simplistic... You can criticize Atatürk and the Turkish nationalist movement for specific actions without turning the entire history of 1919–23 into “Turks ethnically cleansing everyone.” That period was an incredibly brutal war, and civilians of different backgrounds suffered. Greek forces and irregulars also committed serious atrocities against Turkish and Muslim civilians way worse and are actually documented and not just a ghost like the 1915 events, likely just Transcaucasian Armenian rebels that got justice Not unarmed civilians. In those years villages were being raided, burned and looted, so pretending that violence only went in one direction is just as misleading.

I’m also not saying Armenians or Greeks did not suffer, because obviously they did. War is horrible. But 1915 and the later Turkish War of Independence are not one single event that can simply be lumped together, and neither should the actions of armed groups be treated as the actions of every civilian belonging to an ethnicity. Anatolia was a complete mess of armies, militias, reprisals, refugees and civilians caught in the middle.

And honestly, the “he wasn't a nice bloke” argument doesn't add much. You can condemn someone's actions without turning their entire national movement or modern population into a collective defendant. Britain committed plenty of atrocities throughout its imperial history too, and the entire imperial European powers. Much more than the Turks all combined, but I don't see the point of taking over every British forum and telling ordinary British people they need to answer for them. We Turks aren't like you guys, we don't weaponize genocide or historical events 24/7. It's dumb and time consuming. It's 2026, not 1920. I won't go around and say to the Armenians and Greeks; "What happened to the 5+ million Turks?" (Actually documented and not like the 1915 propaganda, which is dropped by Armenia itself and 70% of the nations) (BASED)

History is messy anyway! Turkish, Kurdish, Armenian and Greek civilians all lived through violence and displacement, and reducing all of that to a simple “Turks did this to Armenians and Greeks” narrative leaves out a huge part of what actually happened.

[SPACELORIAN]

Originally posted by SilverFish:

Mustafa Kemal was a member of the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), which initiated and implemented the Armenian genocide during the First World War,

The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily through the mass murder of around one million Armenians during death marches to the Syrian desert and the forced Islamization of others, primarily women and children.

so you call paradox Racist for banning ppl who use a guy as a profil pic that was a part of a committee that saw to killing around 1 million armenians out of racism.

you seem to be one of the ppl that only see racism when something happens to you,

Armenia: No
Turkiye: No

Me: Based
Archives: Based
History: Based

[Nats]

Got to love Steam forums lol.

[SPACELORIAN]

Originally posted by Nats:

Got to love Steam forums lol.

That's your counter comment? As we say for years. Yeah you people always come without credible sources or any progressive talks. No wonder we win. Just win win win and a deceased man makes you all still mad. Such a huge achievement.

PEACE!