DHAKA: Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday launched a blistering new assault on social media, comparing the likes of Twitter to a ‘scalpel in the hand of a surgeon’ and a ‘knife in the hand of a murderer’.

Although many other world leaders are enthusiastic Twitter users, Erdogan has long scorned social media, especially since anti-government protests last year and a torrent of corruption allegations against his circle.

‘I don’t speak via social media. I don’t like to tweet, schmeet, because you know what they cause in society,’ Erdogan told regional heads of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Ankara, reports The Straits Times.

‘I compare them to a scalpel in the hand of a surgeon, and a knife in the hand of a murderer,’ he said.

BDST: 2015 HRS, AUG 14, 2014