A Turkish court has ruled that at least 69 accounts on X belonging to Kurdish politicians, journalists and various other individuals should be blocked from access in Turkey on the grounds that they were “spreading terrorist propaganda”, part of the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) long-standing crackdown on free speech and the media.
The court in the Black Sea province of Gümüshane ordered the blocking of access on August 20 after the Gümüshane provincial gendarmerie filed a complaint. The court ruled that the accounts “contained content that supports terrorist organizations.” The list included well-known politician Ertugrul Kurkcu, a former lawmaker who was elected to parliament as a candidate of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party; German politician Cansu Özdemir, a member of the Hamburg Parliament from the Left Party; and the X-account of the pro-Kurdish newspaper Yeni Yasam.
Among the journalists affected by the ruling was Al-Monitor’s chief correspondent, Amberin Zaman. The aim of the ruling was to “protect national security and public order.”
X did not comply in her case. Zaman’s account, which has over 420,000 followers, was still accessible in Turkey at the time of publication, as were many others that Turkish authorities wanted to delete, such as press watchdogs monitoring the recent crackdown.
Zaman said she received a letter from X on August 22, referring to the court order that named one of her social media posts on the platform as the subject of the complaint. The post included a photo Zaman took in Athens, Greece, showing graffiti on a wall that reads “Rise for Rojava.” Rojava is the name the US-backed, Syrian Kurdish-led government in northern and eastern Syria informally uses to describe the country’s Kurdish-majority areas. X suggested that Zaman delete the post, noting that “we may need to take action against the post.”
Zaman did not. “The post did not contain any incitement to violence. I shared the photo of the graffiti because I found it interesting as a journalist,” Zaman told Al-Monitor. The post is still on X.
Turkey has launched repeated attacks on the Kurdish-led region, claiming it is ruled by terrorists. Many of its leaders – including Mazlum Kobane, commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, which is waging war against Islamic State with the help of the US-led coalition – were members of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which has waged an armed campaign against the Turkish state for 40 years. Kobane and his fellow leaders deny planning violence and say they want peaceful relations with Turkey.
Journalists reporting on the Kurdish issue have been targeted by the Turkish state for decades. In 2022 alone, 25 Kurdish journalists were arrested and detained, according to the media regulator.
On August 23, two female journalists working for the pro-PKK broadcaster Chatr Media were killed in a suspected Turkish drone strike in Sulaimaniya province in Iraqi Kurdistan. Gulistan Tara and Hero Bahadin died at the scene. Another journalist was injured in the attack, which was condemned by international media watchdogs. On July 8, another suspected Turkish military drone struck a television crew in Yazidi-dominated Sinjar. Reporter Murad Mirza Ibrahim of Cira TV – another pro-PKK broadcaster – succumbed to his injuries three days later.
Meanwhile, on the same day that the Gumushane court issued its gag order, a Turkish appeals court upheld a 20-month prison sentence for Bulent Mumay, a prominent Turkish journalist who is a strong critic of the AKP. Mumay was sentenced on May 6, 2023, for his social media posts about alleged government corruption. Press watchdog Article 19 noted in a statement that “the persecution of Bulent Mumay is an example of a widespread intimidation campaign against journalists in Turkey. The government is pursuing a heavy-handed approach to suppress investigative reporting by using legal intimidation, censorship and financial pressure.”
