Turkish authorities on Wednesday blocked access to the X account of Sendika.org, a left-leaning news site critical of the Turkish government, citing concerns over “national security and public order.”
The outlet called the move part of a long-standing pattern of censorship, saying, “Sendika.org will not remain silent in the face of this censorship threat.” As of Thursday, the account remained visible to users in Turkey.
Since its launch in 2001, Sendika.org’s website has been blocked 64 times, forcing it to reappear under new domains similar to the original.
Turkey’s Constitutional Court twice overturned bans on the website, in March 2020 and February 2024, citing violations of the right to freedom of expression.
The current ban on Sendika.org comes amid a broader crackdown on digital platforms in Turkey. In recent months court orders have led to the blocking of hundreds of opposition-affiliated accounts, including those of journalists living in exile, independent news outlets and even the official account of jailed İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s main political rival.
Press freedom groups and watchdogs such as the Freedom of Expression Association (İFÖD) and EngelliWeb have documented a sharp rise in government takedown orders, especially since the arrest of İmamoğlu in March.
Turkey’s increasing use of digital censorship has been cited by press freedom monitors as a key factor in the country’s low ranking in global media freedom indices.
Turkey was ranked the lowest-scoring country in Europe for online freedoms, according to a report from the Washington-based Freedom House last October. Turkey has a score of 31 in a 100-point index, with scores based on a scale of 0 (least free) to 100 (most free), and is listed as “not free.”
The country was ranked 159th out of 180 countries in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
