Brussels, 21/03/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 21 March, the European Commission and MEPs, as well as Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, strongly protested at the announcement of Turkey blocking access to Twitter.
During the night of Thursday to Friday, Vice-President of the European Commission and Commissioner for the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes greatly criticised the announcement of Twitter access being blocked by Turkey. “The Twitter ban in Turkey is groundless, pointless, cowardly”, said Kroes. “Turkish people and international community will see this as censorship. It is”, she continued, choosing to react through her own Twitter account. Kroes recalls that the freedom of expression is fundamental. Her message received more than 1,000 retweets in the first ten minutes, making it her most shared tweet ever. She also expressed her support for Turkish citizens: “I want the people and the Twitterers to know that we are with them. This is a sad day. It is against democracy. It is against European values. It is not acceptable. Erdogan is going in the wrong direction. It is the opposite of what the Turkey government promised us in my latest discussions with them.”
On behalf of the Commission, Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Füle (and thus the commissioner in charge of EU accession negotiations with Turkey) said that the decision of the Turkish authorities “casts doubt on Turkey's stated commitment to European values and standards”. “Freedom of expression, a fundamental right in any democratic society, includes the right to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority”, Füle added. “Gagging the internet, social media and the free press, and politicising magistrates are not good recipes to make Turkey fit for the challenges of the 21st Century, and certainly not the good recipes to bring it closer to the European Union”, said European Parliament President Martin Schulz.
“[Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip] Erdogan has lost all sense of direction and balance. Banning a social media network with 10 million users in Turkey is nothing less than a flagrant attack on the freedom of expression”, said leader of the European Parliament's S&D Group, Hannes Swoboda. “The emergency anti-terrorist legislation does not justify restricting the rights of 10 million people”, he added, stating that while Erdogan does not care about the international community, the international community “is concerned about the rights of the Turkish people” (our translation).
The comments were the same from the European Parliament's Greens who, speaking through Hélène Flautre - the co-chair of the EU-Turkey joint parliamentary committee - believe that the total ban on Twitter “illustrates the worrying drifting of the Erdogan government and its contempt for the freedom of expression and information”. The ban, adds Flautre, “is all the more unacceptable because Turkey is in full election campaign period. Limiting access to free information in this period is particularly serious” (our translation).
Mia Ria Oomen-Ruijten (EPP, Netherlands), the European Parliament's rapporteur on Turkey, strongly condemned the Twitter ban. “Blocking social media is unacceptable in a functioning democracy and the rule of law. I call on the Turkish government to address this issue without delay. Turkish citizens should be able to express their opinion both offline and online.” “The recent developments and lack of constructive dialogue between the EU and Turkey have weakened the basis of the negotiations. I have asked the Turkish minister for European affairs for a full explanation”, Oomen-Ruijten stated.
On Thursday 20 March, Erdogan threatened to ban Twitter after the publication on social networks of recordings of phone tapped conversations which directly challenge a corruption scandal. “We will suppress Twitter. I don't care what the international community will say”, he said to thousands of his supporters during an election rally eight days before the municipal elections on 30 March. At the start of the month, the head of the Islamo-conservative government made threats to ban YouTube and Facebook. (CG with LC, IL and FG)