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Erdogan
Blocks Wikipedia, Bans TV Dating Shows, Purges Another 4,000 Public
Officials
29
April, 2017
Two
weeks after winning the Turkish constitutional referendum by a modest
but decisive margin, president - or perhaps it is now despot -
Erdogan decided to take his newly decreed powers for a spin and
overnight in rapid succession surprised foreign observers when Turkey
decreed that it would ban TV dating shows, fire an additional 4,000
public officials and also ban Wikipedia.
TURKEY BANS DATING PROGRAMS ON TV AND RADIO: OFFICIAL GAZETTE
The
country's Official Gazette published the decrees on Saturday evening.
The first named thousands of civil servants to be dismissed,
including nearly 500 academics and more than 1,000 Turkish military
personnel. The decree also reinstated 236 people to their jobs. The
second decree, among other things, bans radio and television programs
for "finding friends and spouses" according to AP.
The
latest purge follows more than 47,000 people have been arrested and
100,000 have been terminated for alleged connections to terror
organizations, and takes place with Turkey under a state of emergency
resulting from last summer's failed "coup" attempt which
Erdogan blamed on the "shadow state" directed by the cleric
Fethullah Gulen, who currently resides in rural Pennsylvania.
Erdogan's
decree also banned several popular TV dating shows, a move that
reportedly had been in the worls for months.
"In
radio and television broadcasting services, such programmes in which
people are introduced to find a friend.... cannot be permitted,"
said the text of the decree.
Deputy
Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said in March that the ban was in the
pipeline, arguing the shows do not fit in with Turkish traditions and
customs.
"There
are some strange programmes that would scrap the institution of
family, take away its nobility and sanctity," Kurtulmus said at
the time.
Some
see in this decree the first traces of Turkey sliding back away from
the secular state, established less than a century ago by the creator
of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and toward conservative
Islam under Erdogan. However, AKP supporters have responded that
dating shows receive thousands of complaints every year and the ban
is in the public interest.
Separately,
Turkey also said it had blocked all access to Wikipedia; the
country's Information and Communication Technologies Authority
implemented the ban against the online encyclopedia because Wikipedia
"had failed to remove content promoting terror and accusing
Turkey of cooperation with various terror groups" according to
AFP. "There was no indication when the ban might be removed,
with a formal court order expected to follow in the coming days."
In
response to the news, Wikipedia's founder Jimmy Wales tweeted that
"access to information is a fundamental human right. Turkish
people, I will always stand with you to fight for this right."
In
an ironic twist, AFP notes that the incident quickly spawned its own
separate Wikipedia entry, "Wikipedia blocked in Turkey."
This is what it says:
On
the morning of 29 April 2017, following news from Turkey Blocks that
all language versions of Wikipedia had been blocked in Turkey,
several reports were published of the event. The BBC reported that
the Turkish authorities had blocked all access to Wikipedia in the
country from 8.00 GMT. No reason was given by Turkey's Information
and Communication Technologies Authority which simply stated: ""After
technical analysis and legal consideration based on the Law Nr. 5651
[governing the internet], an administrative measure has been taken
for this website." Voice of America reported that Turkish media
had explained the blockage was a result of "terror-related
content". NDTV said that the move had caused strong reactions on
the social media against the decision to deny access to "one of
the world's most popular websites".
Law
No. 5651, known as the Internet Act (IA), was enacted on 4 May 2007.
The purpose of this law has been described by the PTC as follows:
"There are 2 reasons for the law to be brought out. The first
reason; determining the liability and the responsibility of
collective use providers, access providers, location providers and
content providers which are the main actors of the Internet. The
other reason is to determine the procedures and fundamentals related
to the specific crimes committed over the Internet and fighting these
through content, location and access providers." More recently,
the law has been used to censor individuals, journalists and the
media. The European Council's Venice Commission has found the law to
be particularly controversial.
Now
Wikipedia is readable but not editable with FreeWiki by Crypt.space
in Turkey
Over
the past several years, Turkey has repeatedly blocked - so far on a
temporary basis - popular websites such as Facebook and Twitter,
usually shortly after major events such as mass protests or terror
attacks take place.
With
Erdogan now having what is effectively absolute power, it is likely
that many more shutdowns, this time permament, of popular social
networks and media outlets are in Turkey's immediate future,
especially as Erdogan is likely poised to coalesce even more power.
As the following AFP chart shows, the ruling Justice and Development
Party (AKP) has been virtually unopposed in 12 successive elections,
as well as referendums, since president Erdogan he came to power in
2002.
Which
is to be expected with Europe constantly turning a blind eye to
Erdogan's transgressions due to his strategic location at the nexus
between Asia and Europe. In the past two years, Erdogan's leverage
has only grown as there are now over 2 million Syrian refugees held
inside Turkey's borders, which could be deployed in direction Europe,
any time Brussels, or Berlin, engages in any activity that Erdogan
disproves of. Which also explains how Erdogan managed to accumulate
virtually supreme power while all of Turkey's "democratic"
peers and neighbors looked the other way.
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