ANKARA: The Turkish government is set to establish a parliamentary commission to further regulate the usage of social media platforms.
The launching of the “Digital Mediums Commission” coincides with the plans of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to adopt legislation to increase the government’s control over free expression on social media.
The idea has been under discussion for a while, but after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s daughter Esra Albayrak was insulted on Twitter the government pressed ahead with designing a new legal framework to “abolish these platforms completely or to put them under control”, said Erdogan, who thinks social media platforms that enjoy total freedoms do not suit the nation.
These remarks came some days prior to a live appearance of Erdogan on June 26 on YouTube to give a speech to youth, but his feed was overloaded with hundreds of thousands of dislikes and negative comments from young people saying “No Vote For You Again.”
The draft legislation requires the appointment of Turkey representatives for social media providers, especially Twitter and Netflix to respond to legal requests.
The regulation would allow the government to implement access bans and impose legal and fiscal penalties.
The draft regulation with nine articles is expected to be adopted before parliament goes on vacation on July 24.
Suleyman Irvan, a professor of journalism from Uskudar University, said any restriction on social media may trigger anger from members of Generation Z.
“Obliging social media providers to open an office in Turkey aims at implementing the court rulings about social media content, especially those related to the removal of content, and bringing huge amounts of fees that would discourage any anti-government contents in the future,” he told Arab News.
The main opposition CHP thinks that the move primarily aims at curtailing people’s freedoms. Kemal Kilicdaroglu, main opposition leader, criticized the legislation, claiming that it is because Erdogan received negative feedback from the online audience during his live speech.
“He understands what is going to come from Generation Z. Otherwise, why would this subject come to the fore now? We will defend the areas of freedom against this repressive mindset,” he recently said.
Ankara criticized Twitter last month for suspending more than 7,000 government-linked accounts associated with the AKP’s youth wing, saying it was part of a wider plan to smear the government and to intervene in domestic Turkish politics.
Twitter’s official figures show that 74 percent of the legal requests to remove Twitter content originated from Turkey. The latest “Blocked Web” annual report by Freedom of Expression Association said that access to a total of 408,394 websites was blocked from 2014 to the end of 2019.
Last year, access to 130,000 URL addresses, 7,000 Twitter accounts, 10,000 YouTube videos and 6,251 Facebook posts were blocked by the government. It also banned Twitter in 2014, though the ban was lifted within few weeks through a court ruling in the country which is a global leader in Twitter usage.
Erkan Saka, an expert in social media from Istanbul Bilgi University, does not expect fair recommendations from the commission as the majority of parliamentary commissions are controlled by the members of the ruling party.
“The social media faces less control compared to the mainstream media and the government is keen to change this. This is a new step in legalizing restrictive measures that have intensified since the coup attempt in 2016,” he said.
Turkey moves toward social media restrictions
https://arab.news/9hcds
Turkey moves toward social media restrictions
- The draft legislation requires the appointment of Turkey representatives for social media providers
- The regulation would allow the government to implement access bans and impose legal and fiscal penalties
Turkiye says forces killed 24 Kurdish militants in Syria, Iraq in a week
- A defense ministry source said the deal between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Damascus did not change Turkiye’s commitment to counter-terrorism in Syria
ANKARA: Turkish forces killed 24 Kurdish militants in northern Iraq and Syria over the past week, the defense ministry said on Thursday, continuing attacks in the region after a disarmament call from the PKK leader and a separate accord between US-backed Kurds and Damascus.
Speaking at a briefing in Ankara, a defense ministry source said the deal between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Damascus did not change Turkiye’s commitment to counter-terrorism in Syria, and that it still demands that the YPG militia, which spearheads the SDF, disband and disarm.
Turkiye views the SDF, which controls much of northeast Syria, as a terrorist group linked with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group, which has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state. It has carried out several cross-border offensives against the group.
The PKK’s leader, jailed in Turkiye, called for the group to disarm last month. The group is based in northern Iraq.
Lebanon army says Israel releases fifth detainee
- Israel had earlier said it was releasing the five as a goodwill gesture to Lebanon’s recently appointed President Joseph Aoun
BEIRUT: The Lebanese army said it received on Thursday a soldier taken by Israel last weekend, after Israel handed over four other detainees earlier this week.
“The army through the International Committee of the Red Cross received (on Thursday) the soldier who was kidnapped by the Israeli enemy” on Sunday, the army said on X, adding that he had been transported to a hospital for treatment.
On Tuesday, Lebanon received four detainees who had been taken into custody by Israel during its war with Hezbollah, after Israel announced it was releasing them.
“Lebanon received four Lebanese prisoners who were detained by Israeli forces during the last war,” the presidency said at the time, adding the fifth was due to be released the following day.
Israel had earlier said it was releasing the five as a goodwill gesture to Lebanon’s recently appointed President Joseph Aoun.
“In coordination with the United States and as a gesture to Lebanon’s new president, Israel has agreed to release five Lebanese detainees,” the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
The office said the decision came after a meeting held earlier in the day in the Lebanese border town of Naqoura that included representatives of the Israeli army, the United States, France and Lebanon.
In an interview to Lebanese news channel Al-Jadeed, US deputy special envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus said the five Lebanese prisoners were a mix of civilians and soldiers.
On November 27, Israel and Lebanon agreed to a US-French mediated truce that has largely halted more than a year of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, including two months of full-blown war in which Israel sent in ground troops.
While the ceasefire continues to hold, Israel has periodically carried out air strikes on Lebanon that it says are to prevent Hezbollah from rearming or returning to the area along its northern border.
Israel attacks on Gaza reproductive centers ‘genocidal’: UN probe
- The commission found that Israeli authorities have destroyed in part the reproductive capacity of Palestinians in Gaza as a group through the systematic destruction of sexual and reproductive health care
- The United Nations’ genocide convention defines that crime as acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group
GENEVA: A United Nations investigation concluded Thursday that Israel carried out “genocidal” acts in Gaza through the systematic destruction of sexual and reproductive health care facilities.
The UN Commission of Inquiry said Israel had “intentionally attacked and destroyed” the Palestinian territory’s main fertility center, and had simultaneously imposed a siege and blocked aid including medication for ensuring safe pregnancies, deliveries and neonatal care.
“Israel categorically rejects the unfounded allegations,” its mission in Geneva said in a statement.
The commission found that Israeli authorities “have destroyed in part the reproductive capacity of Palestinians in Gaza as a group through the systematic destruction of sexual and reproductive health care,” it said in a statement.
It said this amounted to “two categories of genocidal acts” during Israel’s offensive in Gaza, launched after the attacks by Hamas militants on Israel on October 7, 2023.
The United Nations’ genocide convention defines that crime as acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.
Of its five categories, the inquiry said the two implicating Israel were “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction” and “imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.”
“These violations have not only caused severe immediate physical and mental harm and suffering to women and girls, but irreversible long-term effects on the mental health and reproductive and fertility prospects of Palestinians as a group,” the commission’s chair Navi Pillay said in a statement.
The three-person Independent International Commission of Inquiry was established by the UN Human Rights Council in May 2021 to investigate alleged international law violations in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Pillay, a former UN rights chief, served as a judge on the International Criminal Court and presided over the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
Israel accused the commission of advancing a “predetermined and biased political agenda... in a shameless attempt to incriminate the Israel Defense Forces.”
The report said maternity hospitals and wards had been systematically destroyed in Gaza, along with the Al-Basma IVF Center, the territory’s main in-vitro fertility clinic.
It said Al-Basma was shelled in December 2023, reportedly destroying around 4,000 embryos at a clinic that served 2,000 to 3,000 patients a month.
The commission found that the Israeli Security Forces intentionally attacked and destroyed the clinic, including all the reproductive material stored for the future conception of Palestinians.
The commission found no credible evidence that the building was used for military purposes.
It concluded that the destruction “was a measure intended to prevent births among Palestinians in Gaza, which is a genocidal act.”
Furthermore, the report said the wider harm to pregnant, lactating and new mothers in Gaza was on an “unprecedented scale,” with an irreversible impact on the reproductive prospects of Gazans.
Such underlying acts “amount to crimes against humanity” and deliberately trying to destroy the Palestinians as a group, the commission concluded.
The report came after the commission conducted public hearings in Geneva on Tuesday and Wednesday, hearing from victims and witnesses of sexual violence.
It concluded that Israel had targeted civilian women and girls directly, “acts that constitute the crime against humanity of murder and the war crime of wilful killing.”
Women and girls have also died from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth due to the conditions imposed by the Israeli authorities impacting access to reproductive health care, “acts that amount to the crime against humanity of extermination,” it added.
The commission added that forced public stripping and nudity, sexual harassment including threats of rape, as well as sexual assault, comprise part of the Israeli Security Forces’ “standard operating procedures” toward Palestinians.
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Egypt appreciates Trump’s decision not to displace Gazans
- Donald Trump had proposed a US takeover of Gaza, after earlier suggesting that Palestinians in the enclave should be permanently displaced
- Earlier in March, Arab leaders adopted a $53 billion Egyptian reconstruction plan for Gaza that would avoid displacing Palestinians
DUBAI: Egypt said on Thursday it appreciated US President Donald Trump’s remarks on not demanding that residents of Gaza leave the enclave, according to a statement from the foreign ministry.
“Nobody is expelling any Palestinians from Gaza,” Trump said on Wednesday, in response to a question during a meeting in the White House with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin.
“This position reflects an understanding of the need to prevent further deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the importance of finding fair, sustainable solutions to the Palestinian issue,” the Egyptian foreign ministry added.
Trump had proposed a US takeover of Gaza, where Israel’s military assault in the last 17 months has killed tens of thousands, after earlier suggesting that Palestinians in the enclave should be permanently displaced.
Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out a cross-border raid into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, triggering the devastating war in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas on Wednesday welcomed Trump’s apparent retreat from his proposal for the displacement of Gazans, urging him to refrain from aligning with the vision of the “extreme Zionist right.”
Earlier in March, Arab leaders adopted a $53 billion Egyptian reconstruction plan for Gaza that would avoid displacing Palestinians to counter Trump’s vision of a “Middle East Riviera.”
Canada eases sanctions on Syrian Arab Republic, names ambassador
- Easing of sanctions would help prevent Syria from falling into chaos and instability, said Canada’s special envoy Omar Alghabra
- Liberated from the Assad regime last December after 13 years of war, Syria is now led by former rebel leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa
OTTAWA: Canada announced plans Wednesday to ease its financial sanctions against Syria and to appoint an ambassador, as the Damascus interim government seeks international support.
Canada’s special envoy for Syria, Omar Alghabra, said: “Canada can play a meaningful role in enabling Syrians to build an inclusive country that respects all of its citizens.
“We also can help prevent Syria from falling into chaos and instability.”
A statement from Canada’s foreign ministry said sanctions would be eased “to allow funds to be sent through certain banks in the country, such as Syria’s Central Bank.”
Canada’s ambassador to Lebanon, Stefanie McCollum, will now take on a parallel role as a non-resident ambassador to neighboring Syria.
Previously, Canada — along with many other world powers — had strict sanctions in place to punish the now-ousted government of Bashar Assad.
“These sanctions had been used as a tool against the Assad regime and easing them will help to enable the stable and sustainable delivery of aid, support local redevelopment efforts, and contribute to a swift recovery for Syria,” the Canadian statement said.
Assad fled Syria late last year and opposition forces overthrew his administration in early December. An interim government under former jihadist leader President Ahmed Al-Sharaa is now in place.
Many capitals welcomed Assad’s fall, but gave only a cautious welcome to the victorious rebels.
Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) Islamist group has its roots in the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda.
The new government has vowed to protect Syria’s religious and ethnic minorities, but security forces have reportedly killed hundreds of Alawite civilians in recent days.
In the statement announcing sanctions relief, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joy and Minister of International Development Ahmed Hussen expressed concern over the killings.
“We utterly condemn these atrocities and call on the interim authorities to take all necessary measures to end the violence,” they said.
“Civilians must be protected, the dignity and human rights of all religious and ethnic groups must be upheld, and perpetrators must be held accountable.”
