The letter of our vice co-chair Mr. Saruhan Oluç regarding the latest internet blockage in the Kurdish cities:
To Whom It May Concern,
Since October 26, 2016, Internet access for both DSL and mobile connections has been blocked—by government decree, and particularly between the hours of 10.00 and 19.00—in the cities of Diyarbakir, Erzurum, Kars, Ardahan, Agri, Bingol, Erzincan, Mardin, Batman, Siirt, Van, Elazig, Mus, Bitlis, Tunceli (Dersim), Gaziantep, Hakkari, Urfa, Kilis, and Adiyaman.
The government has made no public statement about the blockage. This silence alone demonstrates its unlawful and illegal character. Such measures clearly violate international agreements and conventions to which Turkey is a signatory.
Through the blockage, social media services such as Twitter and Facebook have been rendered inoperative, in a clear challenge to the right to communication, a fundamental human right. Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights concerning the right to respect for private and family life clearly calls for attentiveness to the importance of communication. UNHRC decision number A/HRC/32/L.20 further underscores the crucial links between the Internet and such matters as freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, the protection of private life and other fundamental human rights. The UN decision moreover calls on governments to protect Internet access, and to immediately put an end to any human rights violations linked to the deliberate blocking of online information flow and communication.
Numerous governments define online connectivity as an inalienable right of citizens. State institutions and governments are by implication required to take the necessary precautions to ensure the rights of their citizens to communication and free information.
However, recent prohibitions block interpersonal communication, and strip hundreds of thousands of local people of their right to communication and information. These measures also negatively affect those who rely on the Internet for medical, educational, and professional purposes in banking, finance, and trade. Yet social media services have been rendered inaccessible in the aforementioned cities to hundreds of thousands of frequent users.
We call on you to demonstrate the necessary sensitivity in the face of such violations of the right to communication and information, and invite you to be outspoken about your concerns as private companies, state institutions and governments. We ask you to state openly that such practices in Turkey damage both fundamental human rights and the services you provide universally.
We write to you as voters and members of a political party that received over 6 million votes in the last election in Turkey, and is represented by 59 deputies in the Turkish Parliament. We thank you in advance for your interest.
Best regards,
Saruhan Oluç
Peoples’ Democratic Party Vice Co-Chair
31 October 2016