Turkish protesters march against Internet censorship

About 2,000 protestors marched against Internet censorship last Saturday in Istanbul in Turkey, Xinhua reported.

Protesters gathered at central Istanbul’s Taksim Square and marched down to Istiklal Avenue, chanting slogans against Transport and Communications Minister Binali Yıldırım, Internet censorship, and especially against "Law No 5651".

Many Internet groups, nongovernmental organizations, and Internet platforms participated in the protest, Hürriyet Daily News reported. Ekşi Sözlük, zaytung.com, bobiler.org, the Young Civilians, Penguen magazine, “Sansüre Sansür” (Censor Censorship) and “Sansüre Karşı Ortak Platform” (Joint Platform against Censorship) were among the participants.

More than 5,000 Internet sites including Last.fm, YouTube and some of Google services are currently banned in Turkey. The bans are issued by prosecutors if the site "is deemed liable to incite suicide, paedophilia, drug abuse, obscenity or prostitution, or violate a law forbidding any attacks on Atatürk."

Reporters Without Borders reported that the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) recently wrote to the Turkish authorities to urge them once again to restore access to banned Internet sites.