Freedom House criticizes Ankara over Internet freedoms

Washington-based watchdog Freedom House has criticized the Turkish government over increasing restrictions on the Internet, describing Turkey as a “battleground state” in Internet freedom in its latest report.

The report, titled “The struggle for Turkey’s Internet,” comes ahead of the hosting of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Istanbul in September. It states that Turkey’s hosting of the IGF is timely because of the country’s critical role as a “swing state,” or more fittingly a “battleground state” on issues of Internet policy.

The term “battleground state” was used for Turkey, Freedom House said, in order to describe a place where a young population, improving technology, and international connections could result in a free Internet envied by the world, or where government tactics might provide a model for shutting down a vibrant online sphere.

It also touched on the new Press Law, currently in the committee stage at Parliament, which it said would force broadly defined “Internet news sites” to register and name their owners and authors, echoing a law that went into effect Aug. 1 in Russia.

“After crudely blocking Twitter in March, the government has also now increased its use of court orders to the social media company and is increasingly finding success in getting Twitter to remove content,” it stated.

Twitter was banned in Turkey in March after President-elect Recep Tayyip Erdoğan claimed it was not abiding by court orders to remove certain links. YouTube was also banned in the same month.

“Even more than how it votes at international Internet governance forums, Turkey is a battleground state in how it governs...