Demand Turkey Overturn New Internet Amendments!

  • by: Susan V
  • recipient: Constitutional Court of Turkey

Turkey’s Telecommunications Directorate has just been given broad powers to monitor citizens’ internet usage. And Human Rights Watch is calling for an overturn of the amendment allowing this rights violation.

The amendment makes it easier for the government to track and monitor citizens' Internet usage and data. It also gives it the power to block any websites it chooses.

Even though restricting internet usage violates rights protected by Turkey’s Constitution and international law, the government was already headed in the direction of censorship and surveillance before the new amendment was passed. Already this year it blocked both Twitter and YouTube.

Now a website the government even suspects to be a security threat can be shut down within four hours, and evidence to justify the shutdown doesn’t have to be provided until 24 hours later. Even though courts can overturn the action, HRW says they tend to side with the government.

Overriding concerns are that the amendment fails to provide effective safeguards to ensure human rights - not only the right to privacy, but the right to health and freedom of expression.

Demand Turkey overturn the new internet amendments!

We, the undersigned, say the Turkish Government has gone too far with its new internet amendment.

The country has already pushed the legal limits of censorship and surveillance with previous amendments, and the latest amendment makes these violations of human rights even easier for the government to get away with, by failing to provide effective safeguards.

In addition to allowing the government to shut down sites before getting a court order, it can now also obtain Internet traffic data from Internet service providers (ISPs) without a court order. Human Rights Watch says this data - “which reveals the websites a person has visited, how much time he or she has spent on a website and with whom a person communicates via email” - is the kind of information that could be used to politically profile people.

HRW says the new law violates numerous human rights and “hugely increases the scope for arbitrary decisions violating rights to free speech and access to information online.” The law should be overturned.

We join HRW in its request that the new internet amendments be overturned by the Turkish Government.

Sign Petition
Sign Petition
You have JavaScript disabled. Without it, our site might not function properly.

Privacy Policy

By signing, you accept Care2's Terms of Service.
You can unsub at any time here.

Having problems signing this? Let us know.