TURKEY: Top court challenges Turkish government's ban on Twitter, says it violates free speech

Record ID: 565229

  • Title: TURKEY: Top court challenges Turkish government's ban on Twitter, says it violates free speech
  • Date: 2nd April 2014
  • Summary: ANKARA, TURKEY (APRIL 2, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF TURKEY'S CONSTITUTIONAL COURT
  • Embargoed: 17th April 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: Communications,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVABZB99VQ8FTZ2LLQMXDBN8FW1C
  • Story Text: Turkey's block on access to Twitter violated freedom of expression and individual rights, the constitutional court said on Wednesday (April 2), the most significant legal challenge yet to a ban which caused public uproar and international condemnation.
    Turkey's telecoms authority TIB blocked access to Twitter on March 21 after Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said he would "root out" the network, following a stream of anonymously posted audio tapes purporting to expose corruption in his inner circle days ahead of nationwide elections.
    The constitutional court said it had sent its verdict to the TIB and the Transport Ministry, which also has responsibility for communications. It was not immediately clear whether the ruling would lead to a lifting of the block.
    The court received several individual applications challenging the ban, including from a main opposition CHP party deputy and a prominent legal academic.
    "This judgement means that Turkish authorities now have to lift the ban which they put over twitter and they will have to do this immediately because the judgement says that they have to do it immediately," legal academic Kerim Altiparmak said.
    "Our hope is that the rule of law will prevail and they will implement the judgement. If not we will think about it we might go to criminal court or we can repeat our application to the constitutional court and other options might be thought but let's see what's going to happen tomorrow," he added.
    Erdogan's critics saw the ban as the latest in a series of authoritarian measures to crush a corruption scandal which had grown into one of the biggest challenges of his 11-year rule.
    Tech-savvy Turks quickly found workarounds, with Internet analysts reporting a surge in tweets since the ban was imposed, but the issue has become a tug-of-war between Erdogan's administration and the San Francisco-based microblogging site, which has also challenged the move.
    On Wednesday night, Turks on the streets of Ankara were wondering when Turkish Telecoms authority will comply with the ruling.
    "We surmised that the Constitutional Court would overturn the ban. As a matter of fact, the court announced the ruling tonight. If you ask when Telecommunications Authority will act, I think they will evaluate it tomorrow. If not, we will see that even the verdict by Constitutional Court is useless in this country," Ozgen Bingol said.
    "We are against every ban that curbs people's right to information. This is a ban. People should be allowed to share their feelings and thoughts through a social platform. And as you know, it's not only Twitter. YouTube is also banned. If there is such a verdict, we want to access YouTube as well," said Serkan Ozcan.
    Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted AK Party emerged triumphant from municipal elections on Sunday which had become a referendum on his rule.
    His party kept control of the two biggest cities, the financial hub of Istanbul, and the capital, Ankara, and increased its share of the national vote. The opposition has contested some of the results, including in Ankara, which saw a close race.
    The Supreme Electoral Board (YSK) has yet to announce the final, official results, saying it will consider all the challenges before doing so. Thousands protested outside its offices in Ankara on Tuesday, demanding a recount.
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