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Turkey Lifts Block On Facebook And Twitter

Turkey Lifts Block On Facebook And Twitter


Turkey lifts the blocks on Facebook and Twitter as the sites comply with the court order to remove photos of a prosecutor who was taken hostage in armed siege. Turkish court blocked Facebook and Twitter last week for publishing photos that showed an attacker pointing a gun at a hostage’s head. In the siege, two armed men, reportedly from a far-left group, took prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz hostage at the Justice Palace in Istanbul. It is believed that this event was as a result of an investigation he lead in regards to the death of a boy when the anti-government protest occurred in 2013.

Three people were killed in an operation conducted by Turkish Special Forces to end the standoff at the office of the municipal court. Sadly, Kiraz was shot several times.

Before blocking the websites, the Turkish government had shut down newspapers which published photos of the siege last week. The newspapers were accused of spreading terrorist propaganda for the DHKP-C, which is reportedly the group behind the courthouse attack. Turkey, the European Union and the United States considers the DHKP-C as a terrorist group.