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TURKEY BLOCKS SOCIAL MEDIA OVER PHOTOS OF SLAIN PROSECUTOR
Published time: April 06, 2015 11:37
Edited time: April 06, 2015 13:16
http://on.rt.com/7jtmp2
Reuters/Umit Bektas
Turkish authorities blocked access to Twitter, YouTube and briefly
to Facebook over the publication of photos of the prosecutor taken
hostage and killed by militants in Istanbul last week.
Turkey's presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said a prosecutor sought
the ban on social media after the photos' release.
"This has to do with the publishing of the prosecutor's picture. What
happened in the aftermath (of the prosecutor's killing) is as grim
as the incident itself," he said, Reuters reports.
"The demand from the prosecutor's office is that this image not be
used anywhere in electronic platforms," Kalin told a news conference
in Ankara.
The ban was implemented by a number of the country's leading ISPs
on Monday afternoon, the Internet Service Providers Union (ESB)
Secretary General Bulent Kent told the Hurriyet Daily News.
All service providers are expected to implement the ban soon, he said.
However the ban on Facebook was later lifted after it rapidly
complied with the court ruling, Tayfun Acarer, head of the
Information and Communications Technologies Authority (BTK), told
daily Hurriyet.Sources in Turkey confirmed to RT that access to
Facebook has been restored.
A total of 166 websites that published the slain prosecutor's pictures
will be blocked, according to a recent court ruling seen by the
Hurriyet Daily News.
The wife and children of Kiraz were "deeply upset," a senior Turkish
official told Reuters, adding "the images are everywhere."
"A request has been made to both Twitter and YouTube for the removal
of the images and posts, but they have not accepted it and no response
has been given. That's why this decision has been taken through a
court in Istanbul."
Prominent Turkish prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz was taken hostage by
the far-left Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP/C)
last Tuesday. He suffered five gunshot wounds and died in hospital,
after a gunfight during the storming of an Istanbul court. His captors
were also killed during the operation.
Read moreIstanbul hostage standoff: Captors killed in police op,
rescued prosecutor dies in hospital
The official was leading the case of Berkin Elvan, a 15-year-old
protester, who died from injuries sustained during the anti-government
demonstrations of 2013. Elvan was in a coma for nine months and died
in March last year. He subsequently became a symbolic figure for the
street protest movement.
This is not the first time Turkish authorities have blocked social
media platforms. In March 2014, the country blocked Twitter hours after
the country's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to close
it down ahead of a key election. The move came after audio recordings
alleging corruption among his associates were posted on the site.
Later the same month, Ankara pulled the plug on YouTube after a
controversial leak of audiotapes that appeared to show ministers
talking about provoking military intervention in Syria. The leaked
audio recording, which reportedly led to the ban, appears to show
top government officials discussing a potential attack on the tomb
of Suleyman Shah, the grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire.
Published time: April 06, 2015 11:37
Edited time: April 06, 2015 13:16
http://on.rt.com/7jtmp2
Reuters/Umit Bektas
Turkish authorities blocked access to Twitter, YouTube and briefly
to Facebook over the publication of photos of the prosecutor taken
hostage and killed by militants in Istanbul last week.
Turkey's presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said a prosecutor sought
the ban on social media after the photos' release.
"This has to do with the publishing of the prosecutor's picture. What
happened in the aftermath (of the prosecutor's killing) is as grim
as the incident itself," he said, Reuters reports.
"The demand from the prosecutor's office is that this image not be
used anywhere in electronic platforms," Kalin told a news conference
in Ankara.
The ban was implemented by a number of the country's leading ISPs
on Monday afternoon, the Internet Service Providers Union (ESB)
Secretary General Bulent Kent told the Hurriyet Daily News.
All service providers are expected to implement the ban soon, he said.
However the ban on Facebook was later lifted after it rapidly
complied with the court ruling, Tayfun Acarer, head of the
Information and Communications Technologies Authority (BTK), told
daily Hurriyet.Sources in Turkey confirmed to RT that access to
Facebook has been restored.
A total of 166 websites that published the slain prosecutor's pictures
will be blocked, according to a recent court ruling seen by the
Hurriyet Daily News.
The wife and children of Kiraz were "deeply upset," a senior Turkish
official told Reuters, adding "the images are everywhere."
"A request has been made to both Twitter and YouTube for the removal
of the images and posts, but they have not accepted it and no response
has been given. That's why this decision has been taken through a
court in Istanbul."
Prominent Turkish prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz was taken hostage by
the far-left Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP/C)
last Tuesday. He suffered five gunshot wounds and died in hospital,
after a gunfight during the storming of an Istanbul court. His captors
were also killed during the operation.
Read moreIstanbul hostage standoff: Captors killed in police op,
rescued prosecutor dies in hospital
The official was leading the case of Berkin Elvan, a 15-year-old
protester, who died from injuries sustained during the anti-government
demonstrations of 2013. Elvan was in a coma for nine months and died
in March last year. He subsequently became a symbolic figure for the
street protest movement.
This is not the first time Turkish authorities have blocked social
media platforms. In March 2014, the country blocked Twitter hours after
the country's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to close
it down ahead of a key election. The move came after audio recordings
alleging corruption among his associates were posted on the site.
Later the same month, Ankara pulled the plug on YouTube after a
controversial leak of audiotapes that appeared to show ministers
talking about provoking military intervention in Syria. The leaked
audio recording, which reportedly led to the ban, appears to show
top government officials discussing a potential attack on the tomb
of Suleyman Shah, the grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire.