Restriction on our Twitter account is lifted

The temporary restriction on Free Web Turkey platform’s Twitter account has been lifted after nine days

Free Web Turkey’s Twitter account, created within the scope of Media and Law Studies Association’s (MLSA) internet freedoms project, was reopened after having been restricted for over nine days. The restriction was imposed following an email received from Twitter’s legal team during the last week of March. The email notified us about the 2021/2326 numbered legal decision of Elazığ 1st Criminal Judgeship of Peace, ruling to ban access to one of our tweets on the suspicious death of journalist and college student Yeldana Kaharman, dating back to February 2020. The judgeship’s decision bans access not only to tweets and Facebook posts regarding the death of Kaharman, but to a total of 96 URLs belonging to platforms such as ekşi sözlük, Cumhuriyet, İleri Haber, Medya Koridoru, Mezopotamya Ajansı, Bir Gün, Jinnews, Sendika.Org and Reddit. Kaharman was found dead in her apartment on March 28, 2019, one day after she visited the house of Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) Elazığ MP, Z. T. A. The decision to ban access was handed down following the application of Z. T. A., and was justified as follows: The decision of non-prosecution reached as a result of the investigation into Kaharman’s death, the fact that these contents are not current ones that could be considered as being in the public interest, and the existence of some comments below these contents, that are in violation of the applicant’s personal rights. On March 19, Twitter had declared that it will be appointing a legal representative in Turkey in accordance with the country’s internet law, which was amended last July.