Free speech: Turkey versus Google

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    Date: 
    17 June 2010

    Turkey’s Internet censorship hit the news this week when the country’s own president raised his objections to the policy on Twitter. Yaman Akdeniz explains the state’s recent struggles with Google and YouTube

    Access to YouTube has been blocked from Turkey since a May 2008 order by an Ankara court. The order was issued because of 10 video clips involving defamatory statements and images about the founder of the Turkish Republic Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. These clips were deemed illegal under Law No. 5816 — “Crimes Against Atatürk”. Access to such content can be blocked under Law No 5651 — “Regulation of Publications on the Internet and Suppression of Crimes Committed by Means of Such Publication” — which came into force in November 2007.

    Since then access to a considerable number of websites has been blocked in Turkey. In January 2010, a report by the OSCE on Turkey and Internet Censorship documented that 3,700 Internet websites are blocked. Miklos Haraszti, the then OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, asked the Turkish authorities to bring Turkey’s Internet law in line with OSCE commitments and other international standards on freedom of expression. Haraszti argued that the law, by blocking access to entire websites, paralysed access to numerous modern file sharing and social networks. The current number of blocked websites is estimated to be around 5,000.