Turkish websites were forced to remove the content

Apr 7, 2015 07:04 GMT  ·  By

Turkey has lifted the block on social networks given that the sites in question have complied to the order and removed the content, namely the photo of the prosecutor who was held at gunpoint by some members of a terrorist organization.

It was reported that Turkey put a ban on approximately 166 websites on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube for having refused to take down the photo of the prosecutor and his assailants.

There was actually a court order that led to the ban, which specifically mentioned the fact that the content will be blocked if the sites do not remove it in the allotted time.

Facebook seems to have removed the controversial photo in due time, so the block was quickly lifted, but Twitter and YouTube, on the other hand, did not obey the request and the sites were blocked for several hours.

The publications were accused of terrorist propaganda

People were outraged at the ban as they were unable to comprehend why the authorities were denying them access to the news.

In reply to this, a presidential spokesman declared for Hurriyet that the ban had been implemented because the websites acted "as if they were spreading terrorist propaganda" by making the photos public.

Furthermore, the family of the prosecutor who had died in the attack were deeply grieved by the whole situation, and it was only unfair to circulate the images online.

But things did stop here. Even after having removed the photos, it seems that the journalists who had published them on their websites had been denied entrance to the press conference and the funeral of prosecutor Kiraz.

The circumstances of his death remain unclear, the authorities have not made any declarations regarding the issue, but it was revealed that the prosecutor died at the hospital because of the injuries inflicted by the two far-left militants who took him hostage. The two gunmen were also shot dead by security forces.

It would not be the first time that Turkey files a request to have content removed from social media, limiting the freedom of the press and controlling what people are allowed to know.