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Archive for the ‘Censorship’ Category

Turkish protesters search for unrestricted Internet, blocked by judiciary – Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review

Sunday, July 18, 2010
ISTANBUL – Daily News with Radikal

Marching for freedom of speech and the right to access information and share opinions, hundreds of protesters gather at central Istanbul’s Taksim Square to voice their opposition to recent judicial decisions that have cemented the Turkish government’s ban on YouTube and thousands of other websites. ‘We claim Turkey is an information highway. How can an information highway exist when 7,000 exits are blocked?’ says one protester

Despite the hot weather, more than a thousand people marched Saturday in Istanbul demanding a free Internet in response to a recent court order that cemented the ban of YouTube.

YouTube, the popular video-sharing portal and symbolic website representing protests for Internet freedom in Turkey, has been banned by a series of court decisions, the earliest of which dates back to May 5, 2008 apparently for insulting the memory of legendary Turkish figure Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

The actual problem, according to the courts, is YouTube’s parent, Google. The search engine giant is in a dispute with the Turkish government over taxes.

Another part of the ongoing dispute regards proxy websites that bypass government restrictions on access to blocked websites. In response to a question submitted by Prosecutor Kürşat Kural from Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office’s Press Crimes Investigation Bureau, the Telecommunication Transmission Directorate, or TİB, said 44 new IP addressed were identified as able to provide access to YouTube.

Kural demanded an additional decision from an Ankara criminal court to block the 44 new sites. When the court applied for bans on the IPs, an objection to the decision carried the case to a higher court, where the case about the new IP addresses continues.

Nihad Karslı, a lawyer for the Internet Technologies Association, or İNTED, said they plan to object if the lower court’s decision is not overturned and will likely take the matter to the European Court of Human Rights if necessary.

Street disagrees with courtroom

The march on İstiklal Avenue in Istanbul on Saturday attracted several hundreds of people from various Internet groups, nongovernmental organizations and Internet platforms such as many popular Turkish websites, including sourtimes.org, zaytung.com and bobiler.org, the Young Civilians, Penguen magazine, ‘Sansüre Sansür’ (Censor Censorship) and ‘Sansüre Karşı Ortak Platform’ (Joint Platform against Censorship). The group gathered at Taksim Square at 5 p.m. and marched to Galatasaray Square holding large banners reading ‘Censorship-free Internet,’ ‘Do not click on our freedom,’ and ‘Censorship protects you from the truth.’ Demonstrators also had whistles, portable music systems and tambourines.

The joint press declaration read at Galatasaray Square protested Law No. 5651, which has resulted in access to more than 5,000 Internet sites being blocked in Turkey. The protesters demanded that the law be repealed and access to the sites affected by the law be re-established. An additional 500 websites are banned by various other laws and the protesters demanded that Turkish Internet users be allowed to access them as well.

‘The Internet is the good news of a full attentive utopia of democracy being possible without a hierarchy,’ the statement read. ‘We, as Internet users, do not accept laws that do not fit the Information Age. We know that the recent Internet policies followed by government institutions is censorship.’

The demonstrators demanded an unrestricted Internet from the government in the name of the freedom of speech and the right to obtain information.

Dylan Ware, a musician who promotes his work on YouTube, said: ‘I think it is very important to protect our right to access documentation and other people’s opinions and to be able to express our own and have people hear them. It is one of the most important things for democracy and it is the key to development for a country. We have to protect that. Because people try to take that right away from us regularly, that is what happening now. Blocking YouTube because somebody said something bad about Atatürk is like blocking books. It is too wide reaching. It interferes with our basic human rights. Turkey signed the European Convention of Human Rights in 1950 and article 10 guarantees our right to be able to express ourselves. This law breaks this agreement and human rights.’

Faik Polat, a member of the Censorship-free Internet platform, said: ‘Today 7,000 sites are blocked in Turkey. If we want to be an information society, why are 7,000 sites blocked? We claim Turkey is an information highway. How can an information highway exist when 7,000 exits are blocked?’

Merve Alıcı, a member of the Young Civilians, said: ‘The legal basis for this ban was in fact related to child porn. But this decision was exploited and now 7,000 sites are blocked. With this protest, we have reached many people because there has been broad participation. We not only protest, but also we convey our declaration to Parliament. I believe this will be taken seriously.’

Hundreds gather in Taksim to protest YouTube ban: “Hundreds gather in Taksim to protest YouTube ban
Hundreds of people gathered in İstanbul’s Taksim neighborhood on Saturday to protest a YouTube ban in Turkey because of video clips that allegedly insulted the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

A person named Deniz Kaynak, who issued a press statement on behalf of the protestors in front of Galatasaray High School in Taksim, said that they, as Internet users, do not want a ban that is not compatible with the information age. Stating that they know what is really behind the YouTube ban, Kaynak underlined that YouTube is banned because of censorship. ‘We all came together to emphasize that people’s freedom of expression and right to access information cannot be hampered. We are searching for a solution on the streets. We protest the ban and want the right to Internet access without censorship,’ Kaynak stated.

The hundreds of protesters held signs that read ‘Say no to censorship, the government’s censorship protects you from reality, do not click away our freedom.’

YouTube has been banned several times, mostly for the same reason: insulting Atatürk. Turkey began blocking access to websites in 2007, after Parliament adopted a law against cybercrime in an effort to curb child pornography, prevent the dissemination of terrorist propaganda and stamp out illegal gambling. Websites deemed to be disrespectful of Turkey’s founder Atatürk and of religious beliefs were also outlawed. İstanbul Today’s Zaman

19 July 2010, Monday

Hurriyet Daily News: Banning websites (I)

Tuesday, July 20, 2010
JOOST LAGENDIJK

It was a big success, last Saturday. More than a thousand people gathered in Taksim Square to protest against restrictions on the Internet. Among the demonstrators were nongovernmental organizations calling for freedom of the Internet, representatives of Internet sites and their readers and employees of private enterprises who are negatively affected by Internet censorship. For the first time, more than fifty NGOs, civil initiatives, human rights organizations and online communities managed to form a ‘Common Platform Against Internet Censorship’ (www.sansursuzinternet.org.tr) that will continue to protest against what was called ‘unlawful and arbitrary efforts to control the Internet.’

Three years ago, few people expected things to turn so nasty. In May 2007, the Turkish government enacted Law no. 5651 to regulate publications on the Internet and to suppress crimes committed by these publications. It was a reaction to concerns about defamatory videos available on the popular video sharing website YouTube involving the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. But the law was also meant to deal with the growing number of websites showing child pornography and other obscene content and sites providing information about suicide and drugs.

In the first year after its adoption, the most well-known application of Law no. 5651 concerned YouTube. After several Turkish courts ruled against the site because it showed some amateurish Greek videos bashing Atatürk, the Ankara 1st Criminal Court of Peace issued the final blocking order in May 2008.

At that time, few people took the ban particularly seriously. Many, including myself, thought this was a rearguard action by some old fashioned members of the judiciary that would lead nowhere because everybody, including the government, would soon recognize that in this day and age, the banning of websites does not make sense. I remember Egemen Bağış, the chief EU negotiator, when questioned in the European Parliament on the YouTube ban in 2008, telling the parliamentarians with a big smile that this was a temporary nuisance and that his son had shown him how to circumvent the ban for the time being. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made similar remarks when journalists reminded him that access to YouTube was blocked. ‘I can get in,’ he replied, ‘and you can get in as well.’

The whole ban seemed ridiculous, soon to be overhauled by reality and common sense. The mood of many was captured well by a reaction on Internet, saying: ‘Some pimply teenager in Greece who slapped some rouge on an Atatürk picture and made a silly video must be feeling an incredible sense of power now. Through an act that should have been interpreted as nothing more than a demonstration of immaturity, he’s managed to prevent the 75 million inhabitants of Turkey from accessing a site in which Turkey’s culture, beauty and music can be shared with millions around the world. How little trust the people behind this continuing ban must have in Atatürk’s ability to survive a childish video, and their citizens’ ability to decide for themselves what to watch or not.’ But this was only the beginning.

In January of this year, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, or OSCE, of which Turkey is a member, published a damning report on Internet censorship in Turkey. It was prepared by one of the people who saw the dangers of Law no. 5651 from the beginning, Dr. Yaman Akdeniz, associate professor at Istanbul Bilgi University. According to the report, up until December 2009, access to approximately 3,700 websites had been blocked under Law no. 5651. More about the conclusions of the report and the damage done to the perception of Turkey abroad in my next column.

Bianet: Deputy Governor Had Website Banned

A Şanlıurfa court decided to ban access to the Sanlıurfa.com website due to articles and reader comments criticizing Deputy Governor Yıdıray Malğaç. Assoc. Prof. Dr Akdeniz said the decision was a breach of the law.

Erol ÖNDEROĞLU – hukuk@bianet.org
şanlıurfa – BİA News Center
15 July 2010, Thursday

Access to the Şanlıurfa.com internet site has been banned because of news related to the Deputy Governor of Şanlıurfa, Yıldıray Malğaç, and referring reader comments. The 1st Civil Court of First Instance of Şanlırurfa in south-eastern Turkey decided to take precautionary measures on 2 July. An appeal against the access ban filed ten days later was dismissed.

The decision was based on Article 24 of the Civil Law (No. 4721) on attacks on personal rights. Court President Judge İbrahim Balkan dismissed the appeal filed by Muhammet Taşçılar reasoning that he was not the owner of the site and did not any authority for the website.

Akdeniz: A clear breach of the law

Assoc. Prof. Dr Yaman Akdeniz from the Law School of Bilgi University in Istanbul evaluated the situation for bianet: ‘The court’s decision of the access ban is entirely contrary to the law. It cannot be accepted that this site, which contains political statements, is censored in an unlawful manner. Freedom of the press and the media cannot be restricted. It must not be restricted by courts’.

Akdeniz indicated that Article 9 of Law No. 5651 on Internet Crimes provides a guideline how to resolve problems related to ‘personal rights’. He criticized that the web site should not have been closed.

Criticism of Deputy Governor forbidden

The censorship was caused by an article entitled ‘Malğaç silent and cowering’ published on the website on 25 March 2010. The article read, ‘Deputy Governor Yıldıray Malğaç made a statement last week. He created confusion in the public when he said that the TL 1.5 billion spent in the last year were met by various sources’. Subject to the decision were furthermore two reader comments, one of them written by the news site official, Metin Çinar, who said, ‘This is Mr Malğaç’s dilemma; those expenditures were not met by the Social Aid Foundation, were they?’ The other comment referred to an article published on 9 February, saying, ‘Shame on Malğaç; Mr Malğaç meddled around a lot, it will explode soon. We beg the Governor. You should check the signatures under some of the tenders, they are signed by his proponents’.

The decision was also based on a reader comment by Ali Kıran sent on 23 May 2010. He wrote, ‘He struggled with everybody, with the tea vendor, the manager, the governor, the press. He was harsh with people, luckily he is leaving. Anyhow, he created this discomfort against the possibility of being remembered positively. What is written on this site is not very normal. This is what people do if you step on their feet’.

In another comment sent on 24 May 2010, it was said, ‘Mr. Governor, I am following what has been said about you on this site. You looked down to everybody. Now everybody is talking about you at the last moment. You should have been a man of the people. You became the governor. In the end, you are a human being, our graves will be the same. I wish you good luck for the place you will be going to in the other world. I hope you will not look down on people at the place where you are going to. The people are not your slaves’.

On 23 May, another comment was entitled ‘Enough Mr. Mağlaç!!!’ and said ‘This Mağlaç, he finished in Urfa and made the Governor’s mother cry’. (EÖ/VK)

Turkish group opens court case over Google services | Reuters

Mon Jun 28, 2010 10:48am EDT

* Thousands of websites blocked in Turkey

* Turkey asking Google for $20 million in taxes

* Row sparks questions over freedom of speech

By Thomas Grove

ISTANBUL, June 28 (Reuters) – A Turkish Internet rights group opened a court case on Monday to end what it says are illegal restrictions on Google services, the latest step in a debate over Internet freedom in Turkey.

Turkey has clashed with Google before and closed down Google’s (GOOG.O) video sharing platform YouTube in 2008 for videos it said insulted the country’s revered founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Internet advocates say efforts to limit access to the video website have caused illegal restrictions on other Google services such as Google Maps and Google Analytics.

‘Millions of Internet users and thousands of companies that use Google services have been victimised,’ said the Internet Technologies Association in a statement sent to the court.

The group says access to Google services has slowed down and in some cases became unavailable after Google Internet Protocol (IP) addresses were blocked in an attempt to hinder access to other websites.

The Internet Technology Association opened a court case against Turkey last year at the European Court of Human Rights over the banning of YouTube, one of thousands of Internet sites that are closed in Turkey, a European Union candidate country.

Turkey wants Google to open an office in Turkey and says the Internet giant owes some $20 million in taxes from revenues generated from the video site.

‘(YouTube) has entered a fight with the Turkish Republic,’ said Communications Minister Binali Yildirim last week.

‘No matter how much of a fuss is made, we will not bow our heads,’ he said in parliament.

Google representatives in Turkey did not respond to requests for comment on the issue.

Turkey’s AK Party government says it has broadened the scope of public debate since taking power in 2002. But curbs on websites have raised concerns. Freedom of speech reforms have ground to a halt in recent years, while the number of closed Internet sites has risen.

As of May 2009 nearly 3,000 Internet sites were closed, according to Turkey’s information technology watchdog, though advocacy groups put the number nearer 5,000.

‘There is no one here in Turkey that makes the effort to protect freedom of expression, there are 60,000 different videos about Turkey in YouTube, and ten have been found to be insulting,’ said Mustafa Akgul, head of the advocacy group and an Internet expert at Bilkent University in Ankara.

Analysts have criticised the ease with which citizens can apply to have an Internet site closed down, with a form readily available on the information technology board’s website.

Most sites in Turkey closed by court order are due to allegations that they encourage suicide, contain libel, child pornography, help users access drugs or promote prostitution. (Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Turkey faces legal challenge over YouTube ban | World news | The Guardian

Internet rights group claims restrictions on access to Google-owned sites illegally discriminate against users

* Nichole Sobecki in Istanbul
* guardian.co.uk, Sunday 4 July 2010 18.41 BST

The Turkish president, Abdullah Gul. The Turkish president, Abdullah Gul, has spoken out against the ban. Photograph: Adem Altan/AFP/Getty Images

An internet rights group has launched a legal challenge in Turkey over a ban on access to a host of Google-owned sites.

The case, in which the Internet Technologies Association argues that the restrictions illegally discriminate against millions of users, is the latest front in an ongoing dispute that raises questions about free speech in a country attempting to join the EU.

‘It’s an infringement on our fundamental human rights, the freedom of conversations and our right to information,’ said Yaman Akdeniz, an associate professor of law at Istanbul Bilgi University and founder of the thinktank Cyber-Rights & Cyber-Liberties.

Turkey’s censorship of the internet dates back to 2007, when a law was passed to tackle child pornography and websites that encourage suicide, drug use, gambling or prostitution. The law broadened state powers by creating a government office with the authority to shut down websites without a court order.

YouTube was banned in 2008 after a video was posted on the site showing Greek football fans taunting Turks and making claims about the country’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

But the site still regularly scores among the top 10 most visited in Turkey, largely due to the use of proxy servers to circumvent the ban.

‘Some people call us Atatürk-haters because we want YouTube to be accessible in Turkey,’ said Akdeniz. ‘But things need to change here.’

Ankara has accused Google of ‘waging a battle’ against Turkey and dodging more than £13m in taxes generated from YouTube revenues – a charge that the US internet company has flatly denied.

Binali Yildirim, Turkey’s minister for transport and communications and the most visible figure behind the ban, said: ‘This site has entered a fight with the Turkish Republic, but Turkey will not accept this.’

But there has even been mounting anger over the ban among those in power. This month President Abdullah Gul expressed his opposition in a series of tweets, saying free speech restrictions were preventing Turkey from ‘integrating with the world’. He said he has instructed officials to look into ways to overcome the ban.

Richard Howitt, a British MEP and spokesman for the European parliament’s committee on Turkey, has warned that the ban puts ‘the country alongside Iran, North Korea and Vietnam as one of the world’s worst offenders for cyber censorship’.

English: Minister Yıldırım: YouTube or any Other Ordinary Person… – Bianet

In the context of the access ban for the YouTube website, Transport Minister Yıldırım addressed YouTube officials, ‘You will be treated just the same way as the ordinary people are treated in the Turkish Republic.

Erol ÖNDEROĞLU
hukuk@bianet.org
Ankara – BİA News Center
30 June 2010, Wednesday

Transport Minister Binali Yıldırım joint the discussion on the access ban imposed to the video sharing site YouTube two years ago. ‘Everybody in this country is obliged to abide by the laws. We do not meddle with anybody’s freedom to do internet commerce. Turkey is a state of law. Everybody should be tied to the force of law’, the minister said.

Yıldırım had a message for the people protesting the internet censorship as well, ‘They might be willing representatives and passionate advocators; that is not of our concern’.

Yıldırım reminded the fact that the Turkish government initiated the process to become a member of the European Convention on Cyber Crimes. Member states of the convention correspond with each other whether legal exchange should be carried out regarding any incident, he argued.
YouTube treated like any ordinary person…

During a speech delivered at the award ceremony of the ‘IT 500′ survey carried out by the Interpromedia Research Service, Yıldırım said, ‘YouTube is treated just like any other ordinary person’.

As reported by the news channel CNN Türk, Yıldırm stated that ’shortcuts have already become a tradition’ in Turkey. He continued, ‘This is a global brand, blah blah blah… ‘Sir, how can you stick up to this huge company’. If you believe in universal law and if you respect the sovereignty of the countries, you have to stick to the country’s rules regardless of who you are dealing with. A citizen from the country ‘X’ does not have priority in country ‘Y’. This conception is incompatible with democracy and modernity’.

‘Unfortunately, there are people in our country defending this issue on behalf of modernity. That hurts. Everybody is obliged to abide by the law of this country. Nobody has priority. This can be a willing representative or a passionate advocator, it does not concern us’.

‘We say, ‘go ahead, if you do business in this country, you will be treated before the law just as any other ordinary person in the Turkish Republic. We are not concerned with anybody’s freedom regarding internet commerce. Turkey is a state of law. Everybody should be tied to the force of law’.
‘Informatics does not get on well with the legislation’

Minister Yıldırım indicated that informatics and legislation do not get on well with each other. He argued that informatics is an area that ruins memorization, abolishes conservatism and creates a change of attitude. Legislation on the other hand pursued to keep everything under control, he said.

Assoc. Prof. Dr Mustafa Akgül, president of the Internet Technologies Association İNETD, filed a criminal complaint against restrictions of certain Google services. He also applied to the administrative court in respect to the ‘temporary access ban’ imposed on YouTube on 5 May 2008 which is still in effect today.

The file concerned with the access ban to the YouTube side has also been forwarded to the European Court of Human Rights. (EÖ/VK)

The Associated Press: Turkey tightens Internet control in YouTube feud

By SUZAN FRASER (AP) – 25.06.2010

ANKARA, Turkey — Furious over Internet insults of the country’s beloved founder, Turkey has gone on the offensive against Google, tightening a ban on YouTube and cutting public access to a host of Google-owned sites.

Turkey’s communications minister has accused the Internet giant of waging a battle against Turkey and dodging taxes. But the government faces widespread public anger and attacks from the political opposition for restricting freedoms.

Even the president has spoken out against banning internet sites — using his Twitter account — after Turkey restricted access to some Google pages earlier this month.

The controversy is a setback for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government, which won plaudits for carrying out democratic reforms but now stands accused of placing Turkey in the same class as countries already notorious for tight Internet controls.

‘If the government doesn’t now put an end to the Internet ban that has extended to certain Google services … Erdogan’s name will be remembered along with that of Internet prohibiter Ahmadinejad,’ wrote Haluk Sahin, a professor of media studies and columnist for Radikal newspaper, referring to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Iran cracked down on free use of the Internet during its disputed presidential election last summer.

Even for Turkey, exercising control of the internet is not new.

The country began blocking access to websites in 2007, after parliament adopted an a law against cyber crime in an effort to curb child porn, prevent the dissemination of terrorist propaganda and stamp out illegal gambling. Websites deemed to be disrespectful of Turkey’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and of religious beliefs were also outlawed.

Under court order, Turkey’s telecommunications authority banned access to YouTube, the video-sharing site, in May 2008, after users complained that some videos insulted Ataturk. Earlier this month, Turkey expanded the ban to include some Google pages that use the same Internet Protocol addresses as YouTube, to prevent users from circumventing the ban. The search giant Google Inc. is YouTube’s parent company.

Hundreds of internet users have signed an online petition denouncing the ban as an affront to ‘free speech and rights to access information.’ Signatories are calling for the resignation of the telecommunications officials and Communications Minister Binali Yildirim.

Three information technology groups are challenging the ban in courts.

President Abdullah Gul threw his weight behind opponents of the ban in a series of tweets June 14, saying the Internet gag was preventing Turkey from ‘integrating with the world.’ He said he has instructed officials to look into ways of overcoming the ban, including changing laws if necessary.

‘I cannot approve of Turkey being in the category of countries that bans YouTube (and) prevents access to Google,’ the president said.

The opposition Republican People’s Party, which under new leadership is trying to present itself as a viable alternative to Erdogan’s government in elections next year, brought the issue to parliament Thursday.

‘The whole of Turkey is disturbed. Reaction, criticism, protests are increasing by the day,’ lawmaker Emrehan Halici said. ‘Unfortunately, we are again faced with censorship in our country.’

Yildirim, the minister in charge of Internet issues, responded by accusing YouTube of attacks against Turkey.

‘This site is waging a battle against the Turkish Republic but Turkey will never accept it,’ he said.

He accused Google of failing to abide by Turkish laws and failing to cooperate with Turkish authorities.

This month, Yildirim lashed out at Google saying it owed Turkey 30 million Turkish Lira (US$20 million) in taxes for revenue from advertisements placed in Turkey.

Google said in an e-mailed statement that it is ‘disappointed that that this ban remains in place against a safe and lawful international service enjoyed by millions of people around the world.’

‘Google complies with tax law in every country in which it operates,’ Google said. ‘We are currently in discussion with the Turkish authorities about this, and are confident we comply with Turkish law. We report profits in Turkey which are appropriate for the activities of our Turkish operations.’

Erdogan has in the past shrugged off complaints over the YouTube ban. In 2008, he told a journalist: ‘I know how to get around the ban,’ and urged everyone else to do the same. He would not however, disclose which proxy servers he used to circumvent the ban.

Richard Howitt, a British member of the European Parliament and advocate of Turkey’s European Union membership, has warned Turkey that it cannot be considered as a serious candidate as long as the Internet continues to be censored.

Howitt said the ban puts ‘the country alongside Iran, North Korea and Vietnam as one of the world’s worst offenders for cyber censorship.’

The 56-nation Vienna-based security and human rights organization has also called on Turkey to abolish or reform the law that allows it to block Internet sites.

More than 6,000 sites have been banned in Turkey according to Engelli Web, a site that monitors blocked pages.

Inaccessible sites include pornographic pages, some online betting sites, escort services and sites that provide live soccer feeds.

OSCE calls on Turkey to stop blocking YouTube | Reuters

VIENNA, Tue Jun 22, 2010 11:14am EDT

VIENNA (Reuters) – Europe’s main human rights and security body told Turkey on Tuesday to stop blocking Google’s video-sharing website YouTube and thousands of other sites banned under its internet law.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said the law, introduced in 2007, has been expanded to bar over 5,000 sites in the past two years and is severely damaging freedom of expression and information rights.

‘I ask the Turkish authorities to revoke the blocking provisions that prevent citizens from being part of today’s global information society,’ the OSCE’s media freedoms chief Dunja Mijatovic said in a statement.

Turkey initially passed the law to restrict access to pornography and other content it deemed harmful to children. The Vienna-based, 56-nation OSCE says the law has now been used to go far beyond that.

‘Instead of allowing free access to the internet, new ways have emerged that can further restrict the free flow of information in the country,’ Mijatovic said.

Turkey, an OSCE member, first started blocking YouTube in 2008 after it ruled that some videos posted on the site were insulting to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the modern republic.

The Turkish government has also cited offences including child pornography and encouragement of suicide for blocking websites.

The OSCE said Mijatovic had written to Turkey’s foreign minister to complain about new restrictions introduced earlier this month that have hampered access to other Google services such as its instant translation site and web traffic tracker.

Mijatovic said the alleged reason behind the block was an unsettled tax row between Turkish authorities and Google but that this matter was not covered in the original law.

Earlier this month, Turkish President Abdullah Gul used his Twitter page to condemn the ban on YouTube and some Google services. He said he had asked ‘responsible institutions for a solution. I asked for a change in regulations on merit.’

The president’s role in Turkey is largely ceremonial; decisions are taken by the prime minister and cabinet.

(Reporting by Sylvia Westall; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

OSCE Press release – OSCE media freedom representative asks Turkey to withdraw recent Internet blocking provisions, calls for urgent reform of law

OSCE media freedom representative asks Turkey to withdraw recent Internet blocking provisions, calls for urgent reform of law

VIENNA, 22 June 2010 – Dunja Mijatovic, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, today urged the Turkish authorities to restore access to YouTube and other services offered by Google, and bring the much-criticized Law No. 5651 – known as the Internet Law – in line with international standards on free expression.

‘I ask the Turkish authorities to revoke the blocking provisions that prevent citizens from being part of today’s global information society. I also ask them to carry out a very much needed reform of Law No. 5651,’ said Mijatovic.

In a letter sent to Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Mijatovic expressed concern about new blocking provisions imposed earlier this month.

‘I am alarmed by the decision of the Turkish Telecommunications Communication Presidency to block access to dozens of Internet Protocol addresses related to YouTube and Google services. As a result, since early June several services related to Google – including popular services like Analytics or Translate – have been either unattainable, or access to them has become very slow,’ she wrote.

The alleged reason behind the block is an unsettled tax dispute between the Ministry of Transport and Communication and Google, the owner of YouTube. ‘But even the widely criticized Internet Law does not include tax disputes among the reasons that it cites as cause for blocking websites,’ the Representative said.

‘My Office has been promoting the urgent reform of Law No. 5651, because it considerably limits freedom of expression and severely restricts citizens’ right to access information,’ she added.

‘More than 5,000 websites have been blocked in Turkey during the last two years. The recent blocking is a worrisome indicator that instead of allowing free access to the Internet, new ways have emerged that can further restrict the free flow of information in the country.’

The legal review of Law No. 5651, commissioned by the OSCE in January 2010, can be downloaded here: http://www.osce.org/item/42294.html