Sat, May 26 2012

Turkey's internet law 'limits freedom of expression'

Tue, Jan 19 2010 14:47 CET

byGabriel Hershman

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Turkey's internet law 'limits freedom of expression'

Photo: Reuters

The UK's Independent newspaper has revealed findings from Europe's main security and human rights watchdog that reveal Turkey is blocking 3700 internet sites for "arbitrary and political reasons".

The Independent quotes Milos Haraszti, media freedom monitor for the 56-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), as saying that Turkey's internet law restricted personal freedom.
 
"In its current form, Law 5651, commonly known as the Internet Law of Turkey, not only limits freedom of expression, but severely restricts citizens' right to access information," Haraszti said in a statement quoted in The Independent.

Haraszti said that Turkey, a European Union candidate, barred access to 3700 internet sites, including YouTube, GeoCities and some Google pages.

"Even as some of the content that is deemed 'bad', such as child pornography, must be sanctioned, the law is unfit to achieve this. Instead, by blocking access to entire websites from Turkey, it paralyzes access to numerous modern file-sharing or social networks," Haraszti said.

"Some of the official reasons to block the internet are arbitrary and political, and therefore incompatible with OSCE's freedom of expression commitments," he said.

The Independent quotes an unnamed senior Turkish government official as having told Reuters that "Turkey provides unlimited and equal access for all parts of society. It is above the EU average on this issue".

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