4 Nov 2010 | Index Index, minipost
Kurdish musician Ferhat Tunç, who was facing 15 years in prison for a speech he made at a festival, was acquitted this morning from Diyarbakir Criminal Court in Turkey. The decision follows a petition signed by more than 1,000 supporters and campaigning from PEN. Tunç, who won the 2010 Index on Censorship/Freemuse Freedom of Expression Award for his “brave stand against censorship“, had been charged with spreading propaganda for PKK (Kurdish Workers’ Party) after speaking at the Siirt cultural festival in April.
1 Nov 2010 | Index Index, minipost
After being blocked for two years YouTube can now be accessed again by Turkish citizens. The Google-owned site was originally banned in May 2008 under a 2007 law that allowed courts to block any website where there was “sufficient suspicion” that it had committed a crime. YouTube was accused of hosting videos that insulted the country’s founder, Kemal Ataturk, an offence in Turkey. The minister in charge of internet issues, Binali Yildirim, has said that the offending videos have been removed.
27 Oct 2010 | Digital Freedom, Index Index, minipost, News
Research in Motion (RIM) faces a ban of BlackBerry data services in Turkey if it doesn’t obey new legislation requiring companies to hand over communication encryption keys to Information and Communication Technologies Authority.
The new regulations aim at fighting terrorism and strive to make it possible for the country’s national security agency to tap into any suspect communications.
Blackberry smartphones are preferred by many, as they are the only smartphones which use an encrypted e-mail system, offering the secure communication.
26 Oct 2010 | Index Index, minipost
Turkey’s Radio Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) has fined a Turkish news channel for airing an interview which criticizes the current government. CNN Turk had broadcast the opinions of Hasan Basri Özbey, Secretary General of the Labour Party, which included his criticisms of past policies by both the current President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The International Press Institute (IPI) National Committee has criticized RTÜK’s decision, remarking that “RTÜK chose one of these opinions to penalize by equating the critic with the broadcaster.”
