Court orders access ban on Sedat Peker's social media accounts
Click to read the article in Turkish
A court has ordered an access ban on social media accounts of convicted mob boss Sedat Peker, who has been making revelations on state-mafia relations and corruption in Turkey since early May.
The order has been issued on the grounds of the "protection of national security and public order," according to the Freedom of Expression Association (İFÖD).
The order has not yet been implemented by YouTube, Twitter and Instagram.
Because the social media platforms use the "HTTPS" protocol, access to an account cannot be blocked by internet service providers without banning the whole website.
To ensure social media platforms' cooperation with such court orders, Turkey in July 2020 enacted a law obligating major social media companies to assign a legal representative in Turkey, which all relevant companies have complied with.
According to the law that caused concerns of censorhip, legal representatives of the companies have to respond to the requests within 48 hours.
Sedat Peker'in YouTube kanalı ve bazı videoları ile Twitter ve Instagram hesapları, millî güvenlik ve kamu düzeninin korunması gerekçesiyle erişime engellendi. İlgili platformların Türkiyede temsilcilikleri olmasına rağmen karar henüz uygulanmadı. https://t.co/vm9qK8zemw pic.twitter.com/KAYD39bLjt
— EngelliWeb (@engelliweb) June 24, 2021
"My Youtube, Twitter and Instagram accounts are wanted to be closed by a court ruling for the second time. But the managers of these platforms don't currently implement this," Peker wrote on Twitter. "In other words, they are resisting like us. (Let's see how long they are going to resist)."
Peker said he would continue to tell what he knows anyway: "I have made an agreement with you. Let's say they managed to close my social media accounts. I promise that I'll share what I know, even if it's with smoke signals."
On June 6, Peker said in a tweet that the social media platforms had approached him for a defense statement against a ban request and had decided to keep his accounts open after examining the case.
Peker has verified accounts on all three platforms.
Court orders for an access ban on a web address are notified to the Access Providers' Union and access providers and websites abroad.
While websites in Turkey may face penalties when they don't comply with the orders, Twitter and YouTube examine the orders according to their own criteria and don't implement them in most cases.
Sedat Peker videosA well-known figure in Turkey's underworld since the 1990s, Peker was imprisoned multiple times for organized crime. Following his release in 2014 after serving 10 years in prison, Peker took a pro-government stance, publicly expressing his opinions on current affairs and holding pro-government rallies attended by thousands of people. At the time, he was described as a "businessperson" in the pro-government media and received "businessperson of the year" awards from several different organizations. In late 2019, he reportedly left the country to avoid arrest in an investigation against him for leading an organized crime group. In February 2020, he announced on YouTube that he was in Montenegro. Denying the arrest warrant claims, he said he had gone to the country to complete his university education and would come back to Turkey. Turning against his former allies, Peker began his revelations on YouTube in early May, after, according to him, Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu failed to keep his promise that he would be able to return to the country in April. Peker has targeted several former and current government officials in his videos, making serious accusations against them, including international drug smuggling, political assassinations, corruption, sexual assault and murder. Along with Soylu, former Minister of Interior Mehmet Ağar, his son and AKP deputy Tolga Ağar, former PM Binali Yıldırım's son Erkam Yıldırım, and former intelligence and military officer Korkut Eken are among Peker's high-profile targets. Peker's videos have had over 100 million views on YouTube. The government and relevant people have dismissed some of his claims while remaining silent about others. CLICK - Sedat Peker claims to reveal new cocaine route between Colombia-Venezuela-Turkey CLICK - Peker says his 'bloodbath' threats to academics helped government create a 'climate of fear' CLICK - Sedat Peker reveals more evidence of his ties to interior minister CLICK - Mob boss Peker's confessions put military contractor close to Erdoğan under scrunity CLICK - Investigation into journalist Kutlu Adalı's killing after confessions of mob boss CLICK - New revelations by Sedat Peker as he postpones video about Erdoğan due to Biden meeting |