![\"'An](\"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/member-of-the-european-parliament-asks-european-commission-to-take-action-against-the-internet-ban-in-turkey-2011-05-24_l.jpg\" "\\"member-of-the-european-parliament-asks-european-commission-to-take-action-against-the-internet-ban-in-turkey-2011-05-24_l\\"")
Marietje Schaake, a member of the European Parliament from the Liberal group, submitted questions Tuesday to the European Commission regarding the proposed legal imposition of an online filtering system and structural domain-name blocking in Turkey.<\/p>\n
In her question paper, Schaake asked the commission what \u201cconcrete actions\u201d it would take regarding the Turkish government \u201cto address its concerns about the proposed censorship of the Internet … and the overall increasing deterioration in freedom of the press in Turkey.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saying that \u201can uncensored, free Internet is essential for a free and open society,\u201d Schaake said she posed her questions to the commission because she \u201cbelieve[s] the latest censorship [in Turkey] may well be in conflict with the Copenhagen criteria\u201d for EU accession.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe proposed online filtering system violates the people\u2019s right to information, restricts freedom of expression and is a threat for democracy,\u201d Schaake said.<\/p>\n
The European Commission has previously warned Turkey about its attempts to control and filter the Internet. As of Aug. 22, all Internet users in Turkey users will have to choose among one of four Internet filtering packages, under a regulation by the Prime Ministry\u2019s Information and Communication Technologies Authority, or BTK. All of the packages will block certain websites, and the filtering criteria will not be made public.<\/p>\n
The Turkish Telecommunications Directorate, or T\u0130B, has also announced a plan to ban 138 words such as \u201cfree\u201d or \u201cyasak\u201d (forbidden) from Internet domain names.<\/p>\n
\u201cBanning words is dangerous. Turkey would be much stronger as a more free and resilient society, where different opinions can exist instead of being suppressed,\u201d Schaake said. \u201cWe need to join our efforts to keep working on Turkey\u2019s EU accession. The Internet censorship hurts the rights and freedoms of people in Turkey first and foremost, but it also does not help the accession process.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the question paper that she submitted to the European Commission, Schaake noted that thousands of Turks participated May 15 in an online-organized march to protest the new legislative proposals under the rallying cry \u201cDon\u2019t touch my Internet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven that Turkey is a candidate for EU membership, the EU should respond to the introduction of [mandatory] Internet filters, which is a danger to free expression and civil liberties,\u201d said Schaake.<\/p>\n
The European Parliament member asked the following questions of the commission:<\/p>\n
– \u201cDoes the Commission agree that the BTK\u2019s Internet filters, in addition to the ongoing blocking of thousands of websites and numerous legal procedures against journalists, writers and broadcasters, is in violation of citizens\u2019 right to freedom of expression and prohibits media pluralism, and is therefore in breach of the EU\u2019s accession criteria? If not, why not?<\/p>\n
– \u201cDoes the Commission confirm that freedom of the press and media will be singled out as a specific political criterion or benchmark for EU accession? If not, why not?\u201d<\/p>\n
– \u201cDoes the Commission agree that free and uncensored access to the Internet and access to information and communication technologies is essential for the development and preservation of democracy and the rule of law? If not, why not?\u201d<\/p>\n
– \u201cWhich concrete actions will the Commission take regarding the Turkish government to address its concerns about the proposed censorship of the Internet by the BTK and the overall increasing deterioration in freedom of the press in Turkey?\u201d<\/p>\n
via Action against Turkey’s Internet ban demanded in Europe – Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u0130PEK YEZDAN\u0130 ISTANBUL – H\u00fcrriyet Daily News Marietje Schaake, a member of the European Parliament from the Liberal group, submitted questions Tuesday to the European Commission regarding the proposed legal imposition of an online filtering system and structural domain-name blocking in Turkey. In her question paper, Schaake asked the commission what \u201cconcrete actions\u201d it would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":34386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[9026,5542],"class_list":["post-34384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-turkey","tag-free-internet","tag-internet-filtering-rules"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}