Two access ban decisions in 9 days! Censorship makes the darkness even deeper

Journalism is becoming more difficult with each passing day.

It is accepted by almost everyone that the climate of pressure established through the judiciary in Turkey has reached relentless dimensions. ..

As is known, we set out on a new path with our news platform www.12punto.com.tr. We announced that we would look at journalism only through the windows of independence, impartiality, and principles.

We started our publication on October 6. Today is October 15. Only 9 days have passed.

In this very short time interval, two access ban decisions were forwarded to us by the Association of Access Providers...

The first was related to the news about the violence inflicted on children at a religious cult dormitory in Şanlıurfa. The torture inflicted on children by a group of reactionaries under the guise of so-called worship had horrified all of Turkey.

Everything was seen extremely clearly and plainly. It was so evident that we even avoided using footage in our news report.

Stabbing the bodies of tiny children with skewers, recording these moments on video, and sharing these extremely traumatic images on social media platforms is both a crime and news everywhere in the world.

Of course, while sharing such a grave incident, the media also has scientific and ethical duties to fulfill.

The Ministry of Family and Social Services announced that a criminal complaint had been filed against those involved in the incident where children were stabbed with skewers, and that the children in question had been taken under state protection.

Journalists naturally, as a requirement of their profession, shared with the public the moments when children were subjected to violence. We were one of the media outlets that wrote about this incident, which left traumatic marks on the innocent souls of the little ones.

A very short time after we wrote and published the news, an access ban was imposed at jet speed, so to speak.

The e-mail forwarded to us from the Association of Access Providers read as follows: The access blocking decisions issued by the Criminal Judgeships of Peace regarding your site within the scope of Law No. 5651 on the Regulation of Publications Made on the Internet and Combating Crimes Committed Through These Publications have been submitted for your information within the scope of the coordination duty granted to our Association by the same law. If you remove the content at the URL addresses specified in the attached list from publication and reply to this e-mail as 'contents have been removed from publication', the necessary procedures will be carried out by our Association.

Immediately afterward, another access ban decision fell into our mailbox. This decision was directed at the news report published by Timur Soykan in Birgün Newspaper, which revealed the pathetic state of the judiciary in Turkey.

In his report titled "The Chief Prosecutor's cry of bribery! We are decaying", Soykan was describing the corruption in the judiciary, how access bans were imposed on news reports in exchange for money, and how people who had committed serious crimes such as robbery and drug trafficking were released.

Moreover, Soykan's source was the letter of Istanbul Anatolian Chief Public Prosecutor İsmail Uçar. In the shocking letter he sent to the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK), Uçar was revealing the bribery cycle with all its clarity.

What happened? Upon the application of Istanbul Justice Commission President Bekir Altun, whose name was mentioned in the article, an access ban was first imposed on the news, and then the news was completely removed.

In the access ban decision issued by the Istanbul 1st Criminal Judgeship of Peace regarding the news, it was noted that Altun claimed that "an insult was made against his honor, dignity, and reputation with the intent of attacking his personal rights and that it was contrary to the truth." That access ban was also forwarded to us.

Legal experts are reacting to the decision. Recently, many major scandals whose reality is known as clear as day are being covered up through the judiciary. This dangerous system that has been established targets the existence of society, journalists, justice, and conscience.

The censorship regime makes the darkness even deeper. We are living in a dark period where we are faced with both censorship and the unethical betrayals of the most trusted sources.

In the coming days, we will prepare content where we will get the opinions of Turkey's important legal experts on this subject.