A Turkish court has ordered an access block on the X account of Cumhuriyet, one of Turkey’s most prominent newspapers, according to the Freedom of Expression Association (İFÖD), a digital rights group.
İFÖD, which monitors internet censorship in Turkey, said Wednesday that the order was issued April 29 by the 2nd Criminal Magistrate of Peace in the eastern province of Elazığ. The group said the court cited risks to national security and public order.
Cumhuriyet, whose X account has some 3.5 million followers, said it was monitoring reports concerning the decision and did not immediately provide additional details.
Shortly after the ruling was made public on Wednesday, the newspaper changed its X username from @cumhuriyetgzt to @cumhuriyetgzt1. EngelliWeb, a censorship-tracking platform operated by İFÖD, said another account subsequently adopted the vacated @cumhuriyetgzt username but was later suspended by X. The reason for the suspension was not immediately clear.
İFÖD said X had not made the newspaper’s account inaccessible in Turkey as of Wednesday.
Founded in 1924, Cumhuriyet is Turkey’s oldest newspaper and has long been associated with secular and opposition political views.
The order comes amid a wider wave of social media restrictions in Turkey. The Media and Law Studies Association said at least 49 social media accounts belonging to journalists and news outlets had been blocked in Turkey since January, while İFÖD said Turkish authorities blocked 126 X accounts, including those of news outlets and journalists, in a single February 2025 decision citing national security and the public order.
Turkey, which remains one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists, according to press freedom organizations, dropped to 159th out of 180 countries in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index, published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in early May.
