Why is Turkey censoring lingerie, antique books?
Turkey's Web watchdog is turning into a "wicked" censorship monster that can arbitrarily target any website, from global prosperity indexes to LGBT forums.
When did Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which has been praised by international media for its democratic reforms during its first few years in power, start to turn into what it is today — a ruthless political machine that cracks down on free speech with increasingly potent tools, insisting on its "unconstitutional" course as was seen in the Jan. 28 debate at the parliament?
It can easily be argued that the AKP's reform drive had already stopped in 2005, before its truly authoritarian tendencies materialized in 2007 with a more draconian approach toward media following its second electoral victory.
Soon afterward, the government pressure on newspapers started to target social media, too. Daily Hurriyet columnist Ferai Tinc had quoted me in 2008, when, as a foreign news editor then, I was complaining of a newly adopted Turkish ban on Blogger, which deprived my colleagues and me of an important news source.
Tinc was an exception in seeing the coming disaster in Turkey, though. The Turkish media, and particularly traditional outlets, failed to react. Opposition parties did not even seriously question the ruling of a court in Diyarbakir that was the basis of the ban.
