Facebook shuts down Peace and Democracy Party’s Istanbul branch page

ISTANBUL

Facebook has closed down the Peace and Democracy Party’s (BDP) Istanbul province’s page on Oct. 24, the party said in a press statement.
 
The BDP said that it considered the step as anti-democratic and an attack to free speech. “When the matter concerns that of a party’s [right to] expression, the dimension of the step becomes more important. Our party has millions of supporters and most of them are Facebook users,” the statement said.
 
The new page ban comes only a month after BDP officials met with representatives from the social media company in London, after its official party pages were successively closed. The delegation led by the party’s deputy head requested to reopen their three official pages and use “clearly-defined criteria” when taking such measures.
 
BDP’s official page was initially closed because it allegedly published “pornographic content,” while another page with 180,000 followers was shut down for “transgressing Facebook rules." The third one was closed without providing any justification, BDP officials had said.