Access block to Rûdaw news website

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

An access block has been imposed on Rûdaw news website by the decision of the Balıkesir 2nd Penal Judgeship of Peace dated October 6.

Rûdaw is a news outlet based in the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). It reports news in Kurdish, Soranî, Arabic, English and Turkish.

While the access block has been announced to the public by Free Web Turkey, a platform monitoring and documenting Internet bans and access blocks in Turkey, the users who want to access the website from Turkey see the following message in Turkish and English:

"The protection measure has been taken for this website (rudaw.net) according to decision nr. 2020/2706 D. İş dated 06/10/2020 of 'Balıkesir 2nd Penal Judgeship of Peace' has been implemented by the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK)."

As indicated in this message, the block in question has been ordered by the judgeship and implemented by the BTK as of yesterday. The reason for the access block has not been announced.

.@RudawTurkce web sitesi Balıkesir 2. Sulh Ceza Hakimliği'nin 6 Ekim tarihli 2020/2706 D.İş sayılı kararına istinaden Bilgi Teknolojileri ve İletişim Kurumu tarafından erişime engellendi. pic.twitter.com/7SnQeExAmd

— Free Web Turkey (@FreeWebTurkey) October 6, 2020

After the new social media law entered into force on October 1, the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) expressed concerns in a written statement and announced that since July 31, the organization had "registered no fewer than 347 cases of online articles being censored for constituting an insult, threat to national security, or violation of the 'right to be forgotten'."

According to the "Blocked Web 2019: The Unseen Part of the Iceberg" report prepared by the Freedom of Expression Association, access to a total of 408,394 websites was blocked from 2014 to the end of 2019.

In the last year, access to 130,000 URL addresses, 7,000 Twitter accounts, 10,000 YouTube videos and 6,251 Facebook posts was blocked pursuant to Law No. 5651. Content providers removed content on more than 50,000 addresses after access block orders, the report also found. (HA/SD)