Since the Turkish Law No. 5651 on the Regulation of Publications on the Internet and Suppression of Crimes Committed by means of Such Publications came into force in November 2007, several websites were blocked by court orders and administrative blocking orders issued by the Telecommunications Communication Presidency (TIB). In terms of statistics, it was revealed by TIB that as of 01 October, 2008, 1115 websites are blocked in Turkey under the provisions of Law No. 5651. 252 (23%) of these websites are blocked by court orders, while majority, 863 (77%) are blocked via administrative blocking orders issued by TIB.

Turkish Blocking Orders as of 01 October 2008

Article 8(1)(a)(1): encouragement and incitement of suicide (article 84 of the Turkish Penal Code); article 8(1)(a)(2): sexual exploitation and abuse of children (article 103(1) of the Turkish Penal Code); article 8(1)(a)(3): facilitation of the use of drugs (article 190 of the Turkish Penal Code); article 8(1)(a)(4): provision of dangerous substances for health (article 194 of the Turkish Penal Code); article 8(1)(a)(5): obscenity (article 226 of the Turkish Penal Code); article 8(1)(a)(6): prostitution (article 227 of the Turkish Penal Code); article 8(1)(a)(7): gambling (article 228 of the Turkish Penal Code); article 8(1)(b): crimes committed against Atatürk (Law No. 5816, dated 25/7/1951); and football and other sports betting (Law No. 5728, article 256).

A detailed assessment of the Turkish approaches to Internet content regulation will be provided in an 80 page long report entitled Restricted Access: A Critical Assessment of Internet Content Regulation and Censorship in Turkey written by Dr. Yaman Akdeniz and Dr. Kerem Altiparmak. This bi-lingual (English/Turkish) report will be published during November 2008 and will be made available as a PDF file through cyberlaw.org.uk and cyber-rights.org.tr pages.