Paradox's Hearts of Iron IV Discord banned a Turkish player for using a real Atatürk photograph as a profile picture.

Moderator chakerathe said real photos of "controversial" historical figures from the game's era were barred, while in-game portraits were fine.

Then it got worse — the same moderator said Atatürk was a CUP member during the 1915 events and his involvement was "controversial."

A later team reply compared him to Karl Marx as a "polarizing figure."

First, players found Stalin and other wartime leaders used as avatars without issue — a clear double standard.

Second, Turkish players and historians pointed out that, in 1915, Mustafa Kemal was a front-line commander at Gallipoli, not CUP leadership running policy, making the moderator's framing a historical smear.

Paradox's own DLC had previously called him "the legendary Mustafa Kemal Atatürk."

Turkish players organized negative reviews across Paradox titles.

HOI4's recent score collapsed from "Very Positive" to "Overwhelmingly Negative" — roughly 7% positive among ~24,000 recent reviews, with 11,000+ negative reviews tied to the incident. Other Paradox games were also hit.

Objecting users had messages deleted; more were banned; the Discord closed new joins.

The HOI4 game director acknowledged on Reddit that enforcement was inconsistent and the rule needed revision, but stopped short of apologizing for the 1915 remarks.

No formal corporate apology as of today.