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NEW INTERNET LEGISLATION adopted by Turkish MPs has been roundly criticised as a fresh assault by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on freedom of expression, access to information and investigative journalism.
The proposals come amid parallel moves by Erdogan to push through contentious judicial reforms as he fights to keep the lid on a deeply damaging corruption probe entangling some of his closest allies.
After hours of debate, during which opposition MPs blasted the bill as “censorship”, the measures were adopted in the chamber, where Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) dominates with 319 of the 550 seats.
The bill extends what are already hefty internet curbs in place under a controversial 2007 law that earned Turkey equal ranking with China as the world’s biggest web censor according to a Google transparency report published in December.
The text notably permits a government agency, the Telecommunications Communications Presidency (TIB), to block access to websites without court authorisation if they are deemed to violate privacy or with content seen as “insulting”.
‘A few steps closer to China’
Yaman Akdeniz, law professor at Bilgi private university in Istanbul, said the powers given to the TIB were “Orwellian”.
This body will also be able to request users’ communications and traffic information from hosting providers – obliged to retain up to two years’ worth of data – without a court order, Akdeniz told AFP.
The measures, Akdeniz said, will “move Turkey away from the European Union in terms of internet policy, perhaps a few steps closer to China”, where the web is heavily censored by the communist authorities.
At the start of the debate, opposition lawmaker Hasan Oren had harsher words, comparing Erdogan to Hitler.
“When you came to power you talked of enhancing democracy in Turkey, Now you are trying to implement fascism,” Oren said. “Remember that Adolf Hitler used the same methods when he rose to power.”
The amendments, which form part of a so-called omnibus bill containing a mishmash of other measures, add to an already draconian approach under the 2007 law.
Under that existing legislation, websites including blogging tool Wordpress and video-sharing services DailyMotion and Vimeo have been blocked temporarily by court orders, while YouTube was off limits for two years until 2010.
Some alternative news websites cannot be accessed and people have been fined, jailed or given suspended sentences – like world-renowned pianist Fazil Say in 2013 – for tweets insulting religious values.
The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said the new powers for the TIB mean it will be able to “gather communications data about all internet users without any legal limits or restrictions,” with users “never… able to know when and how this information is gathered”.
‘Internet authoritarianism’
Dutch MEP Marietje Schaake said that in Turkey’s EU accession talks, Brussels needed to tell Ankara such legislation is “unacceptable” and that “the rule of law and fundamental freedoms are at the centre of EU policy”.
Reporters Without Borders said the aim is “to reinforce cyber-censorship, government control of the internet and surveillance”.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called it a “slide into internet authoritarianism” in a country that is the “the leading jailer of journalists worldwide”.
Even Turkey’s Industry and Business Association was critical, saying the proposals “conflict with the principles of checks and balances” and would increase censorship and deter investors.
The Islamic-rooted government rejects the criticism, with Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc saying there is “no such thing as internet censorship. We are freer compared to many other countries and have freedom of press.”
Erdogan, Turkey’s all-powerful leader since 2003, is openly suspicious of the internet, branding Twitter a “menace” for helping organise mass nationwide protests in June in which six people died and thousands injured.
For critics, last week gave a taste of things to come when Umut Oran, deputy leader of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), was told by the TIB to remove a parliamentary question from his website.
The question, which media were also told to not report on, was close to the bone for Erdogan, asking about purported recordings of phone calls involving the prime minister, his son and a minister.
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These awards should be scrapped. Every year, awful movies and average acting performances get nominated simply because they have to fill the categories up.
@Stephen Walsh: Saoirse Ronan in Little Women… average? Alright.
@Conor: below average in to honest..
@Conor: I didn’t say all the nominees were average, I said they add in average performances to fill up the nominations. But actually yes, by Saoirse’s high standards – it was average for her.
@Stephen Walsh: Gaza is well worth a look. Important look at hope and dispear in the world’s biggest concentration camp .
@Stephen Walsh: last years film. 3 billboards blah blah was the most boring film I ever watched..
@Stephen Walsh: oh, that’s not what I got from it. And I read quite well.
Give Normal people an award for everything. Best leading actress, best leading actor, best adapted screenplay, best soundtrack!!
No other TV series gave me as much joy in lockdown or even before that!!
Truly a Masterpiece and a huge success story for Ireland!!
@Angeles: Was the story not a bit repetitive? Boring even?
@Angeles: surely this is a joke? Neither of the main characters are good actors. I think people a lot of people were brainwashed into thinking it was a good tv show somehow. Ironically nobody in real life acts like these ‘normal people’.
@Stephen Walsh: isn’t a little bit of BDSM in the Umeå the new J1?
@Angeles: Ironically Normal People is not up for any awards but will be in 2021 when everyone will have forgotten it anyway
@Tadhg: worked for me! I cried with it and got horny with it!
And as a foreigner I thought the Irish psyche was superbly represented too!
But you are entitled to think it was boring and repetitive
@Tadhg: worked for me! I cried with it and got horny with it!
And as a foreigner I thought the Irish psyche was superbly represented too!
But you are entitled to think it was boring and repetitive
@Angeles: like my comment :)
@Angeles: mmmm one thinks you should have read the nominations before posting.
@Angeles: You have to be joking. It was very poor, titillating yes, but in terms of acting and storyline, it was dire
The TV and film industry is so small in Ireland that eventually everyone involved will get an IFTA….
Not a very diverse list…minorities not represented….
@Canyon: Don’t think traveller callout videos would be considered high art in fairness (though check out Game of Mobile Homes for a good riff on them)
I jest I jest
Best lead actor in a drama without Jared Harris for Chernobyl !?
Speaks volumes
Would not mind being able to see some of these in a cinema somewhere
Black ‘47 was incredible.
Rosie was terrible.
Same lead actress in both.
weird, Black 47, Rosie and Wild Rose all came out in 2018?
Where can I watch Gaza legally.
@Carlin Ite: go outside his house and wait for him to come out. Using binoculars is illegal though
Chernobyl had a surprising list of decent Irish talent but the actions of Jessie Buckleys character in the miniseries was so annoying to see, especially in a post Covid world. And not even in a Boo, Hiss! Type of annoying like Paul Ritters character in it. Not blaming the actress but the character, so it feels odd that of only 2 nominations involving Chernobyl she gets one of them.
have your say