Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) imposed access ban to the website of Independent Türkçe, the Turkish edition of UK based newspaper The Independence. Nevzat Çiçek, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper stated that the imposition was reciprocal to the access ban issued to websites of Anadolu Agency and TRT in Saudi Arabia.
Nevzat Çiçek, the Editor-in-Chief of the news website said “It is said that the decision in question has been taken to reciprocate the Saudi Arabia’s access block on especially [state-run] Anadolu Agency and [state channel] TRT. The Turkey branch of the UK-based The Independent has been at the center of such a decision due to partnership.” Alongside with Independent Türkçe, access ban was issued to 18 websites including SKY News and Al-Arabiya, which are either owned by Saudi citizens or based in the country.
He added that they continue publishing news on http://indyturky.com.
Ankara 8 Criminal Peace Judgeship rejected the application requesting access block decision to be lifted, on May 13.
