Turkish authorities on Saturday blocked the social media accounts of several Kurdish news outlets and a Kurdish journalist in the latest restrictions targeting Kurdish media, the ETHA news agency reported.
The Turkish-language X account of JINNEWS, a women-focused pro-Kurdish news agency, was blocked for the eighth time, while the X accounts of the Etkin News Agency (ETHA), Medya Haber TV and journalist Öznur Değer were also made inaccessible in Turkey. NûJINHA’s Kurdish-language accounts on Instagram and YouTube were shut down as part of the restrictions.
The restrictions were imposed under Article 8/A of Turkey’s internet law, which allows authorities to block online content on grounds including national security and public order. ETHA said X notified the agency that its account had been withheld in Turkey following a request from the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK).
ETHA said the restriction came after it reported on allegations that German activist Paula Maier was raped by an official at an İstanbul removal center and on a police officer’s account raising concerns about the conduct of colleagues involved in the investigation into the death of Kurdish university student Rojin Kabaiş. The agency also said numerous accounts posting about Kabaiş had been blocked.
The Mezopotamya Women Journalists Association (MKG), the Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG) and the DİSK Basın-İş journalists union criticized the restrictions in a joint statement, calling for an end to what they described as digital censorship targeting women’s journalism.
The organizations said female journalists in Turkey have long faced detention, arrest, prosecution, threats and obstruction, adding that the blocking of news websites and social media accounts had emerged as another form of pressure.
They said the restrictions also violated the public’s right to information and called for the restrictions on JINNEWS and NûJINHA accounts to be lifted.
The latest restrictions are part of a series of similar measures targeting Kurdish media outlets and journalists in Turkey. In January authorities blocked 39 social media accounts belonging to 32 Kurdish publishers, including JINNEWS, ETHA, Medya Haber, the Mezopotamya Agency and the Yeni Yaşam newspaper, also citing national security and public order.
Turkish authorities have increasingly used Article 8/A of Turkey’s Internet Law No. 5651 to restrict online news reports, websites and social media accounts, citing national security and public order. Press freedom and digital rights groups have criticized the provision for allowing content to be blocked without adequate judicial scrutiny.
The US-based democracy watchdog Freedom House’s “2025 Freedom on the Net” report placed Turkey among the five countries with the steepest long-term declines in internet freedom. The organization cited broad censorship practices and intensified digital controls over the past 15 years, giving Turkey a score of 31 out of 100, putting it in the bottom tier of the 72 countries assessed.
