Turkey bans filming at protests to hide police violence, rights groups say As Ankara tries to ban recordings of both citizens and police at protests, press freedom advocates in Turkey are fighting back. Turkish police detain a demonstrator during a May Day rally in Istanbul, on May 1, 2021. - BULENT KILIC/AFP via Getty Images
May 3, 2021
Turkish civil rights groups are taking legal action on a controversial circular issued April 30 by Turkey’s General Directorate of Security banning all audio-visual recordings of citizens and police at protests, in a further blow to press freedom in Turkey.
The Ankara Bar Association has demanded the circular be repealed. Its timing suggested that its immediate purpose was to prevent reporting on protests planned for May Day, when police brutality against demonstrators typically soars. In its petition to the Council of State, which adjudicates administrative decisions, the bar association noted that immediately after the circular
Update: This post has been corrected as of August 1, 2020 to accurately reflect the details of the NetzDG.
For years, free speech and press freedoms have been under attack in Turkey. The country has the distinction of being the world’s largest jailer of journalists and has in recent years been cracking down on online speech. Now, a new law,passed by the Turkish Parliament on the 29th of July, introduces sweeping new powers and takes the country another giant step towards further censoring speech online. The law was ushered through parliament quickly and without allowing for opposition or stakeholder inputs and aims for complete control over social media platforms and the speech they host. The bill was introduced after a series of allegedly insulting tweets aimed at President Erdogan’s daughter and son-in-law and ostensibly aims to eradicate hate speech and harassment online. Turkish lawyer and Vice President of Ankara Bar Association IT, Technology & Law Council Gülşah Den