Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has come under fire for allegedly blocking Twitter from 4am on Wednesday to Thursday morning amid growing public anger over his government’s response to Monday’s earthquakes. The social media platform was down for more than 24 hours until Erdoğan’s communications director announced early on Thursday the social media platform was restored after Turkey’s “productive meeting” with Twitter’s board. He added that Erdogan’s regime was “grateful” for Twitter’s “cooperation and pledge to support Turkey’s efforts to combat disinformation”, as videos of the government’s mishandling have spread on social media since Monday.
Government critics, Turkish journalists and experts have come out, slamming Erdogan’s latest effort to “censor” online criticism against his regime’s botched rescue operations.
“President Erdogan, who had several times blocked Twitter in the past, has routinely been using the disinformation issue as a pretext to suppress criticism,” said Turkey expert Emre Kızılkaya, head of the Turkish branch of the Vienna-based International Press Institute.
He told Express.co.uk: “He controls almost all conventional media outlets but not most of the digital media, so such moves are widely seen by press freedom advocates as attempts to control the free flow of information in Turkey.
“For instance, videos showing how badly the relief efforts are organised by the government went viral on Twitter. These can be detrimental to Erdogan’s political fortunes ahead of the upcoming presidential elections.”
Sinan Ciddi, an expert on Turkish domestic politics and foreign policy, told Express.co.uk the latest Twitter shutdown was yet another attempt to control the narrative around the government’s response ahead of May’s general elections in Turkey.
He said: “The Erdogan government restricted the use of Twitter to prevent the spread of negative news particularly directed at the government. This is primarily an attempt by Erdogan to control and limit the political fallout for himself as he seeks re-election.
“Earthquake survivors who are trapped use social media to reach out to relief workers. Relief workers use Twitter to channel and coordinate relief resources. The Erdogan government’s attempt to limit lines of communication is a heinous act.”
READ MORE: Dog rescued after 55 hours under rubble in Turkey after earthquakes
Other journalists accused Twitter of falling victim to Erdogan regime’s “censorship”.
“Under the guise of combating ‘fake news’, [Erdogan’s Communications Director] Altun admits Turkey throttled twitter despite people depending on it for rescue, aid, and finding loved ones; also indicates Twitter has capitulated to the Erdogan regime and its ongoing censorship,” said freelance journalist Lindsey Snell.
Turkish political scientist Soner Cagaptay tweeted: “Today, the Ankara government throttled Twitter after cabinet ministers faced embarrassing public protests over the slow nature of earthquake relief efforts. President Erdogan’s palace ought to focus less on message control and more on providing relief to dig the country out, IMHO.”
The growing backlash follows Erdogan’s attack on “some dishonest people” who have “falsely slandered” his government’s quake response. While he admitted the state initially “had some problems” at airports and on roads, he insisted the situation was now “under control.”
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