The Coalition for Women in Journalism (CFWIJ or WPF) has in a statement released on Tuesday condemned the blocking of journalist Amberin Zaman’s X account in Turkey, calling the move an unjust restriction on press freedom and free expression.
The CFWIJ criticized X and its owner Elon Musk for complying with “oppressive” court orders.
Zaman, a correspondent for Al-Monitor, faced the block after posting a tweet from Athens. In the tweet she shared a photograph and expressed curiosity about the presence of people in the Greek capital familiar with “Rojava,” a reference to the Kurdish-majority autonomous region in northern Syria.
The Turkish military engages in clashes with Kurdish groups, which it accuses of terrorism, in this area from time to time.
CFWIJ emphasized that the tweet did not contain incitement to violence, hate speech or harassment. Instead, it highlighted Zaman’s cultural observations. Turkish authorities deemed the content politically sensitive, leading to the court order that blocked her account in Turkey.
The organization urged X and Musk to align with their stated commitment to free speech. “If X is truly a platform that promotes open debate and free speech, why is it complying with the censoring tactics of a regime that frequently weaponizes the courts to silence journalists?” the CFWIJ statement said, calling for the reinstatement of Zaman’s account in Turkey.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government is regularly accused of muzzling freedom of expression and cracking down on people who express criticism of his government on social media.
Thousands of people face investigation, are prosecuted and sentenced to prison in Turkey for expressing views disliked by the government on social media platforms.
Rights groups routinely accuse Turkey of undermining media freedom by arresting journalists and shutting down critical media outlets, especially since Erdoğan survived a failed coup in July 2016.
According to a report from the Washington-based Freedom House last week, Turkey, where authorities frequently censor online content and harass individuals for their social media posts, has been ranked the lowest-scoring country in Europe for online freedoms,
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). The other two lowest-scoring countries in Europe are Hungary with a score of 69 and Serbia with 70, according to the “Freedom on the Net 2024” report.
Turkish authorities have temporarily blocked access to social media sites, including Facebook, X, Wikipedia and most recently Instagram, which remained blocked for nine days in August and drew international condemnation.
