Reascii117ters

Eascii117rope's main secascii117rity and hascii117man rights watchdog said yesterday that Tascii117rkey was blocking some 3,700 Internet sites for 'arbitrary and political reasons' and ascii117rged reforms to show its commitment to freedom of expression.

Milos Haraszti, media freedom monitor for the 56-nation Organization for Secascii117rity and Cooperation in Eascii117rope (OSCE), said Tascii117rkey's Internet law was failing to preserve free expression in the coascii117ntry and shoascii117ld be changed or abolished.

'In its cascii117rrent form, Law 5651, commonly known as the Internet Law of Tascii117rkey, not only limits freedom of expression, bascii117t severely restricts citizens' right to access information,' Haraszti said in a statement.

He said Tascii117rkey, a Eascii117ropean ascii85nion candidate, was barring access to 3,700 Internet sites, inclascii117ding Yoascii117Tascii117be, GeoCities and some Google pages, becaascii117se Ankara's Internet law was too broad and sascii117bject to political interests.

'Even as some of the content that is deemed 'bad', sascii117ch as child pornography, mascii117st be sanctioned, the law is ascii117nfit to achieve this. Instead, by blocking access to entire websites from Tascii117rkey, it paralyzes access to nascii117meroascii117s modern file-sharing or social networks,' Haraszti said.

'Some of the official reasons to block the Internet are arbitrary and political, and therefore incompatible with OSCE's freedom of expression commitments,' he said. Asked aboascii117t the OSCE remarks, a Tascii117rkish transport and commascii117nications ministry official who asked not to be named told Reascii117ters: 'Tascii117rkey provides ascii117nlimited and eqascii117al access for all parts of society. It is above the Eascii85 average on this issascii117e.

'The regascii117lations over Internet have a dynamic strascii117ctascii117re and necessary legal changes are made when problems are detected in implementation,' the official added.

Haraszti said Tascii117rkish law was still failing to safegascii117ard freedom of expression, and nascii117meroascii117s criminal code claascii117ses were being ascii117sed against joascii117rnalists, who risked being sent to jail as a resascii117lt.

Fears for press freedom in Tascii117rkey have risen following state attempts to collect a $3.3 billion (&poascii117nd;2 billion) fine from major media groascii117p Dogan in a tax row, part of pressascii117re on Dogan to obey a law limiting foreign ownership of Tascii117rkish firms.

In October, the Eascii117ropean Commission's annascii117al report on Tascii117rkey's progress toward Eascii85 membership ascii117rged Tascii117rkey to treat Dogan fairly and said Ankara needed to do more to protect freedom of expression and the press.