Turkey orders ban on insulting Facebook pages
A court in Turkey has ordered officials to block access to Facebook pages that insult Prophet Mohammad, warning that all social media network will be shut down in the country if they refuse to obey the directive.
The Golbasi Duty Magistrate Court in Ankara passed the order on Sunday after another court in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir banned sites showing the latest sacrilegious cartoon of Prophet Mohammad by the French magazine, Charlie Hebdo.
On January 14, the French weekly, whose Paris office was attacked by two gunmen on January 7, once again published a cartoon of Prophet Mohammad on the cover of its new edition despite warnings that the move is provocative.
The image sparked outrage in most Muslim countries including the largely Muslim Turkey.
The Turkish government on Friday presented a new bill to the parliament that seeks to broaden state control over the Internet.
Under the bill, the Turkish prime minister and other cabinet ministers would be able to shut down websites for reasons including “national security” without a court order.
The Turkish government has in the past blocked numerous social networks.
Turkey blocked access to Twitter on March 20, 2014, after it was used to spread corruption allegations against then prime minister and current President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and his inner circle.
YouTube was also blocked on March 27, 2014, after the release of an audio recording revealing a discussion among top Turkish security officials about a possible false-flag operation to justify a military offensive against Syria.
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