Access to the X (formerly twitter) social media account of Mezopotamya Agency (MA) has been withheld in Turkey.
There has been no statement from X as to why the account, which has 263 thousand followers, was banned.
The YouTube account of MA, which has 148 thousand followers, has also been blocked following a request from Turkey. The agency’s domain at ‘mezopotamyaajansi40.com’ was blocked on 27 December 2024.
There have also been bans on JINNEWS’s X account @jinnewsturkce and Yeni Yaşam newspaper’s account @yeniyasamgazete. Yeni Yaşam’s web site has faced two bans in the last month.
DFG: This is censorship
The Dicle Fırat Journalists’ Association (DFG) made a statement reacting to the bans.
DFG described the bans as censorship, adding that they would file criminal complaints against X and Instagram:
“We condemn this access block by Instagram and X, we cannot accept it. These platforms have the most members in the world, and this stance deals a great blow to freedom of expression and the freedom of the press. It is the government in Turkey, targeting the free press, that has brought apout these acts of repression. Following the ban on Instagram in Turkey, and the bargain that followed, platforms like X and Instagram have taken a back step in terms of press freedom and the freedom of thought and expression. These access blocks targeting the free press today are the outcome of this dirty bargain made with the government.
We demand that X and Instagram reverse this decision, and invite them to respect press freedom and the freedom of thought and expression. We will be filing criminal complaints against X and Instagram.
All these decisions amount to censorship. We will continue to defend press freedom and the freedom of expression against censorship.”
(HA/NHRD)
