Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has never been at peace with the Internet. His animosity toward it increased after last summer’s Gezi Park protests proved how effective this medium can be in mobilizing the public politically. Already under international scrutiny over its negative approach to press freedoms and the freedom of expression, his government has now prepared draft legislation that will enable it to arbitrarily decide which websites the public will be allowed to enter, and which ones will be banned.

The move has elicited strong criticism from Turkish Internet watchdog groups, and raised eyebrows in the European Union, which is already concerned over legal steps being taken by the government that are clearly designed to increase its powers over the judiciary.

The general belief is that this is just the latest move by the government against basic democratic principles that are under increasing threats in Erdogan’s Turkey.

Many critics at home and abroad are convinced that the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) aim in taking these legally questionable steps is to protect itself against politically embarrassing revelations and allegations, such as the ones being made currently under the massive corruption and bribery investigation that has shaken the government to the core.