The 'X' and YouTube accounts of the 'Mezopotamya Agency' have been blocked. Other prominent Kurdish outlets also blocked on 'X' in Turkey include 'Jin News' and 'Yeni Yaşam'.
This statement was originally published on bianet.org on 6 January 2025.
MA, JINNEWS and Yeni Yaşam accounts blocked on X. The Dicle Fırat Journalists’ Association declared that “the decisions amount to censorship” and stated that they will be filing criminal complaints
Access to the X (formerly Twitter) social media account of Mezopotamya Agency (MA) has been blocked in Turkey.
There has been no statement from X as to why the account, which has 263,000 followers, was banned.
The YouTube account of MA, which has 148,000 followers, has also been blocked following a request from Turkey. Access to the agency’s domain at ‘mezopotamyaajansi40.com’ was blocked on 27 December 2024.
There have also been bans on JINNEWS’s X account @jinnewsturkce and the account of Yeni Yaşam newspaper, @yeniyasamgazete. Yeni Yaşam’s website has faced two bans in the last month.
DFG: This is censorship
The Dicle Fırat Journalists’ Association (DFG) made a statement reacting to the bans.
DFG described the bans as censorship, adding that they would file criminal complaints against X and Instagram:
“We condemn this access block by Instagram and X, we cannot accept it. These platforms have the most members in the world, and this stance deals a great blow to freedom of expression and freedom of the press. It is the government in Turkey, targeting the free press, that has brought apout these acts of repression. Following the ban on Instagram in Turkey, and the bargain that followed, platforms like X and Instagram have taken a step back in terms of press freedom and the freedom of thought and expression. These blocks on accessing [social media accounts] targeting the free press today are the outcome of this dirty bargain made with the government.”
“We demand that X and Instagram reverse this decision, and invite them to respect press freedom and freedom of thought and expression. We will be filing criminal complaints against X and Instagram.”
“All these decisions amount to censorship. We will continue to defend press freedom and freedom of expression against censorship.”
