Turkey blocks Instagram after removal of Haniyeh condolence posts from platform
Ban comes days after Erdogan aide criticized social network for excising posts in praise of Hamas leader killed in Tehran early Wednesday
Turkey on Friday blocked access to the Instagram social media network, the national communications authority said without explanation, following censorship accusations against the US company by a high-ranking Turkish official.
The BTK communications authority said in a post on its website that “instagram.com has been blocked by a decision on the date of 02/08/2024,” without adding further details.
The Sabah newspaper, which is close to the government, said access was blocked in response to Instagram removing posts by Turkish users that expressed condolences over the death of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of the Hamas terror group.
Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran early Wednesday, in a blast widely attributed to Israel, which has neither claimed nor denied responsibility.
The ban came days after Fahrettin Altun, the presidential communications director and aide to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, criticized the Meta-owned platform for allegedly preventing users in Turkey from posting messages of condolences for Haniyeh.
No comment from Instagram or its parent company Meta was immediately available about the matter.
Minister of Foreign Affairs @HakanFidan offered his condolences to Khaled Meshaal, Acting Chief of the Hamas Political Bureau, in Doha, over the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Abdusselam and Hemmam, the sons of the martyr Haniyeh, were also present at the meeting. pic.twitter.com/J1h77IlbTK
— Turkish MFA (@MFATurkiye) August 2, 2024
Erdogan, who recently appeared to threaten to invade Israel, condemned the “perfidious assassination” of his “brother” Haniyeh on Wednesday, praising “the glorious Gazan resistance.”
On Thursday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who was in Doha for Haniyeh’s funeral, met with Khaled Mashaal, a veteran Hamas official who is a likely successor to Haniyeh.
Turkey is observing a day of mourning for Haniyeh on Friday, and flags will be flown at half-staff.
The Instagram ban is not the first time that Turkish authorities have blocked access to social media sites.
Hundreds of thousands of domains have been blocked since 2022, according to the Freedom of Expression Association, a non-profit organization regrouping lawyers and human rights activists.
The video-sharing platform YouTube was blocked from 2007 to 2010. Wikipedia was also blocked between April 2017 and January 2020 over two articles that alleged a link between the presidency and extremism.
