Stories about Turkey
Online and Off, Information Control Persists in Turkey
Government efforts to stifle unrest in Turkey in recent weeks has stretched beyond episodes of physical violence and police brutality into the digital world, where information control and media intimidation are on the rise.
VIDEO: Turkish Protests Filmed by the People, for the People
As the #OccupyGezi protests have surged, Turkish mainstream media has foundered, failing to cover the anti-government demonstrations for fear of retribution. Citizen journalists have stepped up to fill the role, reporting and filming so that the Turkish people and the world can see what's happening in the country.
As Protests Continue, Turkey Cracks Down on Twitter Users
The critical role that social media and the Internet are playing in the anti-government protests engulfing Istanbul and other parts of the country has not gone unnoticed by Turkish authorities. Police have arrested dozens of people accused of publishing “misinformation” on Twitter to encourage others to join in the ongoing unrest.
Turkey: No tweets from the courtroom!
“Today the judge is more strict” says the tweet, “One undercover police for each row! All monitoring the ones who are tweeting!“ In Istanbul-Turkey, today is the 2nd day of the hearings of 10 arrested journalists. Turkey is the leader country even before China and Iran with the figures...
Advocacy Recap: Part II
Last week, we looked back at the US government's handling of G20 summit protesters and pro-democracy bloggers in Vietnam facing persecution. Now let us talk about the Purdue University Professor who faced intense criticism for his views on homosexuality and Turkey's YouTube ban. Professor Bert Chapman, a Government Information and Political...
Turkey Unblocks YouTube, but Will Ban Be Short-Lived?
YouTube has been banned in Turkey since 2007. Now, for the first time in two years, the popular video-sharing site is once again accessible in Turkey. Since the site was unblocked, however, videos that were the initial impetus for the censorship have been restored. Will the unblocking be short-lived or will Turkey stand by this step toward Internet freedom?
Turkey: Violating online free speech
Turkey, a modern democracy which takes pride in staying secular despite intense pressure from Islamic fundamentalists, unfortunately is actively engaged in curtailing online free speech. Since September 18,2009 MySpace, a popular social networking site and Last FM-where you can listen to free music, has been blocked in the country for...
Blogger.com banned in Turkey
A Turkish court has blocked access to the popular blog hosting service Blogger (Blogger.com and Blogspot.com owned by Google), since friday, October 24th, 2008. Turkish Internet users are seeing this message when trying to visit Blogger.com and all blogs hosted on blogspot.com hosting service: “Access to this website has been suspended in accordance with decision no. 2008/2761 of the TR Diyarbakir First Criminal Court of Peace.”
Three Easy Steps to Block Sites in Turkey
In a clear instance of vexatious litigation, a Turkish court has blocked the Web site of prominent evolutionist Richard Dawkins following complaints from Islamic creationist and author Adnan Oktar. Oktar, who writes under the nom de plume Harun Yahya, filed the complaint last week; when Turkish Internet users now attempt to access Dawkins’ site, they are presented with a message that reads: ‘access to this site has been suspended in accordance with a court decision’.
Turkey: Bloggers Banning Themselves
If you are a long-time follower of the Turkish blogosphere you will have undoubtedly heard about the Turkish ban on Wordpress....and the periodic bans on YouTube, and on the social-networking widget site Slide, oh..and now on Dailymotion as well. I think that is all? Isn't it? It is hard to keep track now-a-days and frustrating. Turkish bloggers feel the same way too, and are protesting the constant banning of sites by voluntarily banning their own.
Turkey: Dailymotion blocked
Access to the french video-sharing website Dailymotion.com has been blocked in Turkey since August 2nd 2008. According to Erkan Saka, an Istanbul-based blogger, “the decision to ban the site came without any explanation.” This is the second instance of a popular video-sharing website being blocked in Turkey. YouTube was blocked...
Slide blocked in Turkey
A Turkish court banned access to Slide, the maker of social networking widgets, for “harboring pictures and articles that are considered to be insulting to Ataturk.” In a note to Slide users in Turkey, Slide announced that it has contacted the Turkish government in hopes of resolving the issue: If...
Turkey again blocks access to YouTube
A Turkish court has again blocked access to the popular video-sharing site YouTube over a video clip allegedly insulting the country's founding father, Kemal Atatürk. According to The New Anatolian, Turkish users trying to access Youtube are receiving a message explaining the ban : “Access to www.youtube.com site has been...
Great Firewall of Turkey: access your WordPress blog with WordPrexy
As a reaction to the court's decision to block access to the entire WordPress.com blogging platform in Turkey, following a libel action brought by the Islamic-creationist, Adnan Oktar, Great Firewall of Turkey activists launched WordPrexy.com project to make Turkish blogs hosted on WordPress.com accessible. WordPrexy is a WordPress-specific proxy server...
Turkey Blocks YouTube. Again.
For the second time in a year, a Turkish court ordered, on Tuesday September 18, to block access to YouTube.com over videos deemed insulting to the country's leaders. The decision followed a complaint by a resident in the eastern city of Sivas that the site hosted videos containing insults against...
Thailand: WordPress.com blocked
Thailand blockpage (TOT – Telephone Organization of Thailand): This screen shot was taken by Prachatai.com when access to the popular blogging platform WordPress.com has been blocked (August, 22th, 2007):“Sorry. TOT Plc., as an organization of Thai people, has restrained the access to this website as it contains content, text, and/or...
Turkey: wordpress.com ban inspires firestorm of criticism
Turkey blockpage (screen shot of the blocked WordPress.com) “Access to this site has been suspended in accordance with decision no: 2007/195 of T.C. Fatih 2.Civil Court of First Instance.”(Source: National Blockpages Gallery | Global Voices Advocacy Blog) Matthew Mullenweg, founding developer of the popular WordPress blogging platform, has received a...
Turkey blocks popular blogging platform WordPress.com
The popular, and free, blogging platform WordPress.com has been blocked in Turkey and those who are trying to visit it are seeing this message: “Access to this site has been suspended in accordance with decision no: 2007/195 of T.C. Fatih 2.Civil Court of First Instance.” “I didn’t realize Turkey had...
Blogging for Kurds’ human rights
Young bloggers from across the Middle East have joined forces to fight for the human rights of their Kurdish brethren: “Our first target is the media which is necessary for Kurds to voice their opinion, thus we are petitioning to unblock these voices, at least on the internet, our only...
March of the censors: France, Turkey and China clamp down on freedom of speech
Two weeks ago, the French blog AgoraVox, one of the leading European citizen media blogs, warned against what it termed the gradual “berlusconisation” of the French media and the threat posed by the rise of Nicolas Sarkozy, French Minister of the Interior and conservative party head, to freedom of speech...
