Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 25
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
It will be possible to cut off Internet access without a court order if this is demanded by the national security interests, Turkey's Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications Minister Lutfi Elvan said, TRT Haber news channel said Dec. 25.
He said that currently a corresponding draft law is being prepared.
Elvan said his ministry will be given a right to temporarily close the Internet access, as well as close the access to Internet resources, which are detected to have unsafe content, national security wise.
The ministry will be then able to apply to the court for the final closure of such resources.
It is also envisaged to introduce a fine of 500,000 TRY (or $215,592 as of Dec. 25), if the content is not removed from a website, following a warning.
Turkey has previously blocked known websites for security concerns. Under a court decision, Turkey blocked Twitter on March 21.
Youtube was blocked again on April 5, when an audio recording of a secret meeting on the situation in Syria was uploaded to Youtube on March 27. The mentioned meeting was attended by the heads of intelligence and the general staff of Turkish military.
Edited by SI