Twitter can be unblocked for just three Turks, official suggests

ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News

REUTERS Photo

An official from the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) suggested April 3 that Ankara could unblock Twitter not for the whole country, but just for three complainants.

The Constitutional Court unanimously ruled April 2 that the ban was a violation of free speech guaranteed by Article 26 of the Constitution. The individual complaints were separately filed by Professor Dr. Kerem Altıparmak, Professor Yaman Akdeniz and Sezgin Tanrıkulu, deputy chair of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).

The ruling will also be used as a precedent for similar cases in the future, experts said. If the court ruling is respected, authorities will not be able to impose blanket bans of this kind.

But Mustafa Şentop, deputy chair of the AKP, spoke to CNNTürk and said the Constitutional Court ruling “is full of contradictions.” Arguing that Turkish authorities had to adopt a general blocking on Twitter because they were technically not able to block certain URLs, Şentop defended the ban as the state’s “constitutional duty to protect its citizens.”

“The applications to the Constitutional Court were individually filed. Hence, the court responded to these three people. This is not a general decision. Of course, the court ruling must be practiced, but how could it be, if the court issues a general ruling after individual complaints? We should debate it,” Şentop said, suggesting a reasoned decision is needed.