Turkey’s telecommunications and internet regulator has told one of the country’s oldest human rights organizations to remove two reports documenting alleged abuses against women, the group said, among three online restrictions imposed on its publications over the past month, the Bianet news website reported.
The Human Rights Association (İHD) said it received the notice on July 29 from the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK), the government agency that regulates Turkey’s telecommunications sector and carries out court and administrative orders to block or remove online content. The BTK cited a ruling by a court in the southwestern province of Isparta covering a regional report on violations in 2020 and a nationwide report on 2021.
Neither the İHD’s statement nor a commentary published Tuesday by one of its board members disclosed who sought the order, what passages the court considered unlawful or the legal grounds cited for removing the reports. The court ruling itself was not published with either account.
The 2021 report, released in July 2022, was compiled from complaints submitted to the İHD, the organization’s documentation records and media reports. It described alleged violations including violence against women, economic and social hardship, discriminatory and hateful rhetoric, strip-searches and torture or ill-treatment in prisons, police custody and demonstrations.
The other publication, prepared by the İHD’s İzmir branch, documented alleged violations against women in Turkey’s Aegean region during 2020.
The İHD said its reports are based on statements from victims and witnesses, field observations and information and documents that can be verified. The organization said it would challenge the removal demand in court and raise it with international human rights bodies.
Osman İşçi, an İHD central executive board member, said in a commentary published Tuesday by Bianet that documenting violations allows rights groups to identify broader patterns and support efforts to hold those responsible accountable.
İşçi said the focus on reports concerning women was particularly significant because violence against women continues in Turkey. He argued that restricting such reports could interfere with the monitoring and documentation that form a central part of human rights work.
The İHD said it had faced three content-removal or access-blocking measures over the preceding month under Article 8/A of Turkey’s internet law. The organization said an Istanbul court had separately blocked access from Turkey to one of its posts on the social media platform X concerning LGBTQ+ rights.
Article 8/A allows authorities to seek the urgent removal or blocking of online material on grounds of national security, public order, crime prevention, public health and the protection of life and property. The publicly available accounts did not specify which ground was invoked in the case of the women’s rights reports.
The BTK and the Justice Ministry have not publicly explained why the two reports were subject to removal.
