Turkey bans independent news sites in latest move to silence opposition

Following a new law restricting the online news media, a court order blocking 136 websites and social media accounts has highlighted the shrinking space for oppositional voices in Turkey.
People use computers at an internet cafe in Ankara February 6, 2014. Turkey's parliament, where Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party has a majority, has approved internet controls enabling web pages to be blocked within hours in what the opposition decried as part of a government bid to stifle a corruption scandal with methods more suitable to "times of coups". Under a bill passed late on Wednesday, telecommunications authorities can block access to material within four hours without a prior court order
People use computers at an internet cafe in Ankara, Turkey, Feb. 6, 2014. - REUTERS/Umit Bektas
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Diego Cupolo
@diegocupolo

Independent journalist Hayri Tunc first noticed his news site Gazete Fersude was blocked on July 18.

He had been running the small alternative news outlet on personal funds for about a year with a team of five editors and 15 contributors. It was one of several news sites founded to fill a coverage gap left by the shuttering of nearly 200 news outlets since a 2016 coup attempt in Turkey. Media freedoms have been stifled as ongoing legal proceedings have landed at least 138 Turkish journalists behind bars, according to the press monitor Platform24.

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