President Gül: There is no backtracking on freedoms

07.03.2014
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President Gül: There is no backtracking on freedoms

 

Having performed the Friday Prayer at Hacı Cemal Yazgan Mosque in Istanbul, President Gül expressed his evaluations on the current discussions regarding the possibility of imposing a ban on Facebook and YouTube in the country.

Question: Mr. President, Prime Minister Erdoğan gave an important message about the social media in Turkey during a live broadcast program on TV last night and he said Facebook and YouTube could be blocked. Could we hear your evaluations about this issue, sir? Is that possible anyway?

President Gül: “Actually, I did not have a chance to watch that program as I had another activity to attend last night, but I read the news about this issue in newspapers today. First of all, I would like everyone to know that Turkey is a state of democratic law. While we make tireless efforts to further strengthen the basic rights and freedoms within the framework of the principles of democracy and the law, we cannot regress on these issues. About the recently-passed law on the Internet, there were problematic issues in that law, but when I drew attention to these issues, the Parliament corrected all of them. There is no such thing as blocking such platforms as YouTube and Facebook at all. On the other hand, should a crime be perpetrated over these platforms like intrusion in one’s privacy or denigrating one’s life, they can be blocked through a court order, of course. Whatever is considered to be a crime in real life, it applies to the virtual life as well. However, in Turkey, there is no backtracking on freedoms. We have always been proud of what we have achieved as reforms in terms of expanding the basic rights and freedoms.”

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