This past Sunday, 15th of May, a huge demonstration against liberty of expression was performed by hundred of thousand Turkish citizens. They all represented a mash up of Internet users, and gathered together in Taksim Square, located in  the center of Istanbul. They protested against the “draft bill that was appealed by Bianet in an application filed to the Council of State in April” (Bianet).

The demonstration was organized through Facebook and Twitter. The citizens walked through Istiklal Avenue. The main message they want to send out was  that the freedom of expression and right to access information of Internet should not be obstructed. Many organizations such as the Linux Users Association, the LGBTT initiative LambdaIstanbul, the Hands off the Internet Initiative, also many different groups took part in the manifestation.

The walk lasted around three hours, with the support of 31 Turkish provinces. The citizens protested against the filtering system, which will come into effect on August 22nd of the present year. Which will ban sites such as Youtube, Blogspot, WordPress and many other thousands of websites in Turkey.

The people express themselves by shouting and showing slogans that contains phrases as: “Internet without TiB”, “The strings of the BTK are attached to Fetullah’s hand” and “ Hands off our freedom, opinions, books and Internet”.

In a press released exposed and emitted by the Sourtimes, the declaration of May 15^Th, 2011 regarding some great points about why fundamental rights and Freedoms Cannot Be Obstructed are exposed:

• The BTK (IT and Communications Institute) decision dated 02/22/2011 with number 2011/DK-10/91 lacks legal basis. The unjust decision gives BTK a right, which is not prescribed by law. The legal decision also limits basic rights and freedoms protected by the Constitution and international treaties directly. While open and unfiltered Internet access is being regarded as a basic human right by international institutions, in Turkey filtered Internet is about to become “the standard”

• The comments made by the BTK president claiming the “standard profile” is the current standard and anybody who opts-out will be left out of the filtering system are not correct. Neither there is a notion called neither “the standard profile” nor an established filter mechanism currently. With the forthcoming mechanism it will not be possible to stay out of the filtering system. If the government officials are really sincere they have to provide an “unfiltered” alternative to Internet users in Turkey.

• Internet is about to become “the standard”. “The BTK filtering system which will take effect on August 22nd, 2011 is unpredictable by the users, arbitrary, and essentially a control and censorship mechanism structurally. The criteria for filtering websites through the different profiles under the BTK system are not disclosed to Internet users. The full authority to build and maintain the filtering lists is handed to BTK by BTK itself. Now BTK will render hundreds of thousands of websites unreachable arbitrarily which is far beyond the current disproportional blocking caused by Law No. 5651. Illegitimate, disproportional and arbitrary administrative operations are unacceptable in a democratic country.

• Similar to previous blocking decisions, state officials are trying to use irrelevant countries as examples to legitimize their unjustified decisions. They are intentionally perverting the description of various state policies in their justifications. It is impossible to accept the state officials’ appeal to negative examples from across the globe to interfere with everybody’s lives in Turkey.

• Member states must encourage the use of filtering software in houses, school computers and Internet cafes but must avoid employing mandatory nationwide filtering policies.If filter use is found appropriate by families, that should be use on their own personal computers.

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About the author

Estefania Herrera
I come from the half of the world, Ecuador. I am 22 and by leaving my country to study abroad in Spain, I've grown up as a person in an incredible way. Therefore I say, its good to experience new things, and get to know new cultures. But most importantly LiVe, lOvE and LaUgH.

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