“Twitter Violates Laws Both in Turkey, U.S."

bianet interviewed Ankara Bar Association Telecommunications Committee Chairperson Nihad Karslı on Twitter’s “blocking” of certain accounts in Turkey, which is labeled as “country withheld content”.

Saying that Twitter’s such actions resulted in partly sacrificing freedom policy, Karslı told bianet that such an application is considered as a crime in both Turkey and in the U.S.

“What was shared is not illegal”

“Someone from Turkey filed a complaint. There is no information of that person. The company providing service is in the U.S. Twitter would be guilty for preventing personal communication according to U.S. law system if these accounts were of a U.S. citizen or of a U.S.-ID holder. Twitter would also be guilty for preventing communication in Turkey.”

“Which crime is committed with content in Twitter? We must stop and think how courts issued their rulings.”

What was shared was not secrets of government employees or high-ranking government officials but the evidence of their crimes. Until yesterday, they have expelled many from the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) only for internet records.”

What is of concern here are claims such as thievery and bribery. None of these would be included in personal data protection.”

“The content of the tweets must be illegal so that courts would issue rulings on this. In fact, most of what is shared is obviously monitoring records handled by court order.”

“This is the mentality behind ttt instead of www”

“Twitter authorities know that blocked accounts can still be followed. However, they are dealing with a minister who says: “We may create a ttt system instead of www”.

They act as if they are adapted to commercial concerns.

What can be said for this? I assume that they are trying to deal with primitivity, with primitivity. As it is like Nasrettin Hoca’s tomb, all sides open, door closed.”

“It will continue if they compromise this way”

“It will continue after such a compromise from Twitter. Censorship is like cancer; once began, it is likely to spread.”

“We are under an authoritarian regime. Naturally, people started to act with their personal interests and fears. The perspective of people in Turkey is becoming the same with the ones in Iran and North Korea. This will continue as long as compromises take place.”

“It is not the same with Neo-Nazi accounts”

“Neo-Nazi accounts are being frozen in Germany. Nevertheless, the example from Germany is an international level crime. German courts do not even have to make a move.”

“Already most internet companies block those accounts, as required by their responsibilities.”

“Who will be punished if lawsuits are filed against closed accounts? There is no reason to punish. In fact, Neo-Nazi activities in Germany is considered universal crime.”

“At some time, they were setting the U.K. as an example to build Union of Internet Service Providers. There is no such union in the U.K. What happens there is an action resulting from the own responsibilities of internet service providers regarding felonies.”

If Twitter blocks your account…

“Let’s say that Twitter closed your account. This is a direct violation of your personal rights and this could be a reason for a lawsuit. You can file a complaint about Twitter in Turkey and this could be an international case.”

Then Twitter has to prove itself how legal the agreement it made with Turkey is.”

Complaint against service providers

“We filed a complaint about service providers when Access to Twitter was blocked. Because there was neither a court order nor else... TİB wasn’t also the one. 286 service providers in Turkey suddenly terminated Twitter.”

“As bianet,  when you receive a directive such as “Do this”, wouldn’t you look for a legal reason? How is it possible that so many service providers applied such a non-legal directive simultaneously?”

“We filed a complaint about service providers so as to have them say “We are sorry, we are judged because of you.” When TIB issues such a non-legal directive.”

“No matter how much we say there is no law in Turkey, we must look for legal ways.” (EKN/BAR/BM)

* Click here to read the article in Turkish.