UPDATE: Twitter has complied with Turkey’s request to remove photographs of an Istanbul prosecutor held at gunpoint by far-left militants and a ban on the micro-blogging site will be lifted very shortly, a senior Turkish official said on Monday.
“Twitter has agreed to shut down accounts and remove images relating to last week’s hostage-taking. The web site will reopen to access very shortly,” the officialÂÂ said.
“Users across Turkey will be able to access the site within the hour,” he added.
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The Turkish Government has blocked access to YouTube and Twitter in the country after both refused to take down images of a murdered Istanbul prosecutor. Facebook said that it had complied with an order from a Turkish court which required it to restrict access to some content or face getting blocked. While complying with the court order, Facebook said it would appeal it.
Istanbul prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz succumbed to his wounds last week after being held in captivity by the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C). The leftists took a picture of Kiraz with a gun to his head and threatened to kill him if their demands were not met.
It is this image, which was posted on social media sites, that the Turkish courts want removed.
Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin told a news conference in Ankara:
“The wife and children of prosecutor Kiraz have been deeply upset. The images are everywhere.”
A prosecutor was responsible for blocking the social media sites because he felt that “they were spreading terrorist propaganda.”
“This has to do with the publishing of the prosecutor’s picture. What happened in the aftermath is as grim as the incident itself,” Kalin said. “The demand from the prosecutor’s office is that this image not be used anywhere in electronic platforms,” he told a news conference in Ankara.
The presidential spokesman said that the court demanded that the image not be shared on any electronic platform.
Security forces stormed the building where Kiraz was held which led to the death of his two captors. Kiraz also was hit by gunfire during the rescue attempt, and did not survive. Both Google, which owns YouTube, and Twitter said that they were working on restoring service to its users.
“A request has been made to both Twitter and YouTube for the removal of the images and posts but they have not accepted it and no response has been given. That’s why this decision has been taken through a court in Istanbul”
