Social media platform X has blocked access to at least 42 accounts belonging to Turkish journalists, activists and media organizations operated by journalists living in exile, marking yet another act of censorship, Turkish Minute reported.
Among the blocked accounts are those that belong to exiled journalists Turhan Bozkurt, Abdullah Bozkurt, Emre Uslu, Ergun Babahan, Basri Doğan and Erkam Tufan Aytav in addition to the account of Bold News, a website established by a group of exiled journalists.
Activists such as lawyers Murat Akkoç and Gökhan Güneş, whose accounts have been blocked, cover widespread rights violations in Turkey, which increased following a failed coup in 2016, and provide victims of a post-coup purge with legal advice.
Some of these accounts have a large number of followers on X, totaling several hundred thousand people.
X, which has a poor track record of complying with the Turkish government’s censorship demands, made its decision based on a ruling from an Ankara court. The court cited the need for “protection of national security and public order” as its rationale.
Turhan Bozkurt, a former business editor with over 318,000 followers on X, has pledged to continue his journalistic activities despite the censorship imposed by the Turkish government. He said journalism would merely become a form of public relations if journalists refrained from criticizing the government. To stay connected with his followers in Turkey, he created a new account on X.
A statement from the presidential communications directorate said that access to 42 X accounts was blocked as part of a “digital fight” against the faith-based Gülen movement on the grounds that they spread propaganda and disinformation.
The Gülen movement, inspired by the teachings of Turkish-Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who passed away in Pennsylvania last October, is labeled a terrorist organization by the Turkish government. The government accuses the movement of orchestrating the failed coup in July 2016, a claim that the movement strongly denies.
There are also other journalists and media platforms affected by the access ban but not included in the 42 listed by the government.
For example, the X account of the Artı Gerçek news website has been blocked in Turkey, according to the website itself. Artı Gerçek covers mostly issues about the Kurds in Turkey, the rights violations they suffer and prosecutions against them. The news platform said it is taking legal action against the court decision, which also cited “protection of the national security and public order” as the reason for the ban.
Yaman Akdeniz, a law professor and one of the founders of the İstanbul-based Freedom of Expression Association, described the restriction on the platform’s X account as “a serious attempt at censorship.” He said the platform was not informed about the ban, noting that the censorship is being imposed without any transparency.
In addition, veteran Turkish journalist Yavuz Baydar, who lives in exile, also announced on X that his account was made inaccessible by X to his followers in Turkey.
In a similar development, X also blocked access to over 100 accounts belonging to Turkish journalists, activists and media organizations run by journalists living in exile last October.
The access ban came shortly after the death of Gülen.
Following Gülen’s death, some people including two journalists were detained in Turkey for offering messages of condolence for him on social media or on TV.
A number of the blocked accounts posted condolences for Gülen or praise of his movement following the cleric’s death, but others did not.
X, formerly Twitter, appointed a representative to Turkey in line with a controversial social media law after the company and others were hit with advertising bans for failing to comply with the law.
The law — which human rights and media freedom groups said amounted to censorship — compels social media companies with more than 1 million users to maintain representatives in Turkey to deal with complaints about content on their platforms.
In the run-up-to the general election in May 2023, X complied with a request from the Turkish government to censor four accounts and 409 tweets that were critical of President Erdoğan and his leadership. These added to the hundreds of accounts that X had already censored at the request of the Turkish government in the past, with Twitter even being banned in the country in 2014 for refusing to comply with Erdoğan’s take-down orders.
Poor record in online freedoms
The rampant online censorship in Turkey has made its way into the reports of international organizations as well.
According to a report from the Washington-based Freedom House in October, 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.
President 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 the failed coup in July 2016.
