IPS Communication Foundation – Bianet

Stage actor Genco Erkal faces up to 4 years and 8 months in prison for “insulting the president” for tweets about the presidential system and referring to allegations that Erdoğan did not graduate from university.

According to reports in Turkish media, the government plans to introduce prison sentences of one to five years for publishing and spreading fake news on social media. It will also establish a regulatory body called the “Presidency of Social Media”.

Journalists Barış Pehlivan and Barış Terkoğlu co-authored “Metastaz-2: Cendere” (“Metastasis 2: The Press”), which examines the government, the judiciary, the 2016 coup attempt, and claims to reveal the infiltration of state institutions by religious sects.

The legislation permits the Ministry of Interior to replace NGO executives who are prosecuted for “terrorism” charges with new members and suspend the activities of groups. Rights groups warn that it threatens freedom of association and will allow the government to repress civil society organizations.

Following the publication of a cartoon of Erdoğan lifting a veiled woman’s dress, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs demanded political and legal action against ‘Charlie Hebdo’.

Erdoğan’s remarks came after insults were directed at his son-in-law Berat Albayrak on social media. Declaring the tweets “immoral” and “dishonourable”, Erdoğan pledged a bill to control “this kind of media”.

The mass blocking of social media platforms and websites represents a huge assault on freedom of expression. IFEX member “Bianet” was not informed of the reason for the block.

The Prosecutor’s Office has drafted the indictment for rights advocates from various organisations who were detained during a digital security workshop on July 5 in Büyükada.