(Photo: OSCE/Nora Kovacs)
18-01-2010
"In its current form, Law 5651, commonly known as the Internet Law of Turkey, not only limits freedom of expression, but severely restricts the citizens' right to access information," said Haraszti, commenting on a new report commissioned by his office on the blocking measures provided by the law. According to the report pro-Kurdish news websites are blocked from Turkey and some of these websites keep changing their domain names to overcome blocking orders rather than fighting such orders through the courts and through the legal system. The report says these domains are banned, based on articles of the Turkish Anti-Terror law. "At present, 3,700 Internet sites are blocked in Turkey, including YouTube, GeoCities, and Google sites.” He added that, “by blocking access to entire websites from Turkey, it paralyzes access to numerous modern file sharing or social networks," said Haraszti. "The results make the means unjustifiable," he said. "Blocking access inside of Turkey is an affront to the public's right to the entirety of the Internet. Additionally, some of the official reasons to block the Internet are arbitrary and political, and therefore incompatible with OSCE's freedom of expression commitments." He added: "Besides pointing out the dangers of the Internet law, I also have to repeat that the Turkish legal framework still fails to protect freedom of expression. Numerous Criminal Code provisions are applied against media workers, and as a result, journalists risk imprisonment for carrying out their work." "Therefore 'reform or abolish' the Internet Law is our main recommendation. I hope that the Turkish authorities will soon remove the blocking provisions that prevent Turkish citizens from being part of today's global information society."
