Judge orders blocking of access to reports linking Bilal Erdoğan to international bribery investigation

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A judge has ordered blocking of access to 93 online news articles about the alleged involvement of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's son in a bribery scheme.

Reuters reported on Monday that bribery talks took place between Bilal Erdoğan and the Swedish subsidiary of an American company for the company to hold a monopoly in Turkey. No payment was made eventually but prosecutors in the US and Sweden are investigating the matter.

Turkey's Communications Directorate quickly dismissed the report, accusing the agency of "attacking the president's family."

After an application by Bilal Erdoğan's lawyer, the İstanbul 5th Penal Judgeship of Peace ordered the blocking yesterday.

The complaint had alleged the violation of Erdoğan's personal rights, leading the judge to accept the request for blocking access to the mentioned publications. The judge's ruling, consisting of a 16-page document, marks the beginning of the process to block access to the URLs hosting therelevant content.

Several websites have been affected by the content blocking, including reuters.com, tamgaturk.com, kisadalga.net, gazeteduvar.com.tr, voaturkce.com, evrensel.net, gercekgundem.com, odatv4.com, haber.sol.org.tr, t24.com.tr, borsatek.com, kronos36.news, tr724.com, yenibakis.com.tr, tr.euronews.com, sozcu18.com, krttv.com.tr, abcgazetesi.com, haberiniz.com.tr, yenisoluk.com, kisadalga.net, nupel.tv, and serbestiyet.com. (AEK/VK)