First statement from Ekşi Sözlük! Constitutional Court rules violation of freedom of expression

The Constitutional Court (AYM), has ruled that the access ban on the social media forum Ekşi Sözlük constitutes a 'violation of freedom of expression'.

The platform, which was hit with an access ban on February 25 following the earthquakes on February 6, continued to operate under different domain names after the decision.

The platform, which used various domain names, saw “eksisozluk2023” blocked on May 13, “eksisozluk42” on May 15, “ eksisozluk1923” on December 14, and “ eksisozluk1999” on December 24. 

"IN ORDER TO UPHOLD AND PROTECT FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION..."

Ekşi Sözlük issued a statement following the Constitutional Court's ruling. The statement, published on its social media account, included the following:

“As we have previously shared with you, we had filed an application with the Constitutional Court against the decision of the Ankara 4th Criminal Judgeship of Peace dated 22/02/2023 and numbered 2023/1532 d.iş, which blocked access to ‘eksisozluk.com’.

Today, we learned that the Constitutional Court has evaluated our application and reached a decision. The court ruled that the access ban decision violated the freedom of expression guaranteed by Article 26 of the Constitution. In order to eliminate the consequences of the violation of freedom of expression, it was decided that a copy of the decision be sent to the Ankara 4th Criminal Judgeship of Peace and that a retrial be conducted. In this context, we are waiting for the judgeship to make a decision to restore access to eksisozluk.com.

We have continued our struggle without losing our faith in law and justice. The Constitutional Court's decision has strengthened our belief. We would like to thank all our users who stood by us during this difficult process.

As always, we will continue to do our best to uphold and protect freedom of expression.”

hello,

as we have previously shared with you, we had filed an application with the Constitutional Court against the decision of the Ankara 4th Criminal Judgeship of Peace dated 22/02/2023 and numbered 2023/1532 d.iş, which blocked access to https://t.co/EEVPwdKr1I.

today, we learned that the Constitutional Court has evaluated our application... pic.twitter.com/hjda6WWe7Q

— ekşi sözlük (@sozluk) January 11, 2024

News Source: 12punto