Turkiye blocks access to Instagram; it's in response to removal of posts on Hamas chief: Reports
Ankara, Aug 2: Turkiye's communications authority blocked access to the social media platform Instagram on Friday, the latest instance of a clampdown on websites in the country.
The Information and Communication Technologies Authority, which regulates the internet, announced the decision early Friday but did not provide a reason.
Yeni Safak newspaper, which is close to the government, and other media said access was blocked in response to Instagram removing posts by Turkish users that expressed condolences over the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh.
“Sanctions for Instagram's blackout policy were swift. The Information Technologies and Communication Authority blocked access to Instagram,” Yeni Safak stated in its online edition.
Earlier, Fahrettin Altun, the presidential communications director and aide to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, had strongly criticized the Meta-owned platform for preventing users in Turkiye from posting messages of condolences for Haniyeh.
The transportation and infrastructure minister, Abdulkadir Uraloglu, maintained that Instagram had ignored “sensitivities” and was in breach of a so-called inventory of serious crimes, which include incitement to suicide, torture, obscenity, crimes against the state's security and child sexual abuse, among others. He did not elaborate which particular crime the platform is alleged to have breached.
“When they don't abide by laws and our regulations and don't take our societal sensitivities into consideration, we are obliged to make the necessary interventions,” he said.
The minister said Turkish authorities were in contact with Instagram's representative in Turkiye.
“When they fulfill the requirements, we will lift the ban,” he said.
Uraloglu's deputy, Omer Fatih Sayan, wrote on X: “We will do what is needed to establish a social media that respects our values, is free of disinformation, and is cleaner and more secure.”
There was no immediate comment from Instagram, which has over 50 million users in Turkiye, a nation with a population of 85 million.
The country is observing a day of mourning for Haniyeh on Friday, during which flags are being flown at half-staff.
Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul and a member of Turkiye's main opposition party, denounced the decision to block Instagram, accusing the communications authority of acting like a “censorship unit.”
“Social media is a platform that everyone uses for many purposes, including for commerce and communicating,” Imamoglu wrote on X. “It is unacceptable that a platform used by the entire country is arbitrarily shut down one morning.”
Turkiye has a track record of censoring social media and websites. Hundreds of thousands of domains have been blocked since 2022, according to the Freedom of Expression Association, a non-profit organisation regrouping lawyers and human rights activists. The video-sharing platform YouTube was blocked from 2007 to 2010.
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US Central Command leader says Iran campaign is 'ahead or on plan'
Dubai (AP): The top commander of the US military's Central Command said the campaign against Iran is “ahead or on plan," as the Israeli military began what it called "a wide-scale wave of strikes targeting Iranian terror regime infrastructure” early Monday.
US Navy Adm. Brad Cooper gave his first one-on-one interview of the war to the Farsi-language satellite network Iran International, which aired it early Monday. Iranian media reported new airstrikes targeting Tehran without identifying the sites being hit.
The previous day, Tehran warned it could attack US and Israeli energy and infrastructure assets if Israel or the US attempt to follow through on President Donald Trump 's threat that the US would “obliterate” Iran's power plants if it doesn't fully open the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump — who is facing increasing pressure at home to secure the strait as oil prices soar — issued the ultimatum in a social media post while he spent the weekend at his Florida home.
The death toll from the war has risen to more than 1,500 people in Iran, more than 1,000 people in Lebanon, 15 in Israel and 13 US military members, as well as a number of civilians on land and sea in the Gulf region. Millions of people in Lebanon and Iran have been displaced.
Here is the latest:
Trump reiterates his peace through strength' slogan
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US President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social website early Monday: “PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH, TO PUT IT MILDLY!!!”
US Central Command's Cooper says Iran operating in a sign of desperation'
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The head of the US military's Central Command says Iran is “operating in a sign of desperation” by targeting civilian sites in the war.
In an interview with the Farsi-language satellite network Iran International aired early Monday, US Navy Adm. Brad Cooper said: “They're operating in a sign of desperation. ... In the last couple of weeks, they've attacked civilian targets very deliberately, more than 300 times.”
Cooper also noted the slowdown in Iranian incoming fire across the Mideast as the war has entered its fourth week.
“At the beginning of the conflict, you saw large volumes in the dozens of drones and missiles,” Cooper said.
“You no longer see that. It's all one or two at a time.”
US Central Command leader says campaign is ahead or on plan'
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The top commander of the US military's Central Command said the US campaign against Iran is “ahead or on plan.”
US Navy Adm. Brad Cooper gave his first one-on-one interview of the war to the Farsi-language satellite network Iran International, which aired it early Monday.
Cooper said Iran's continued attacks on Gulf Arab states and the wider Mideast put civilians at risk.
He added that the US and Israel were targeting missile and drone manufacturing sites as well.
“We're also going after the manufacturing,” he said. “So it's not just about the threat today. We're eliminating the threat of the future, both in terms of the drones, the missiles, as well as the navy.”
Cooper also said it isn't time for the Iranian public to come to the streets, although both Israel and the US have said they hope the Iranian public would topple the country's theocracy as a result of the strikes.
“They're launching missiles and drones from populated areas and you need to stay inside for right now,” Cooper said. “There will be a clear signal at some point, as the president has indicated, for you to be able to come out.”
Latest reports of live fire
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1. Saudi Arabia's Defense Ministry said Monday it intercepted a ballistic missile targeting the kingdom's capital, Riyadh, while another struck an “uninhabited area."
2. The United Arab Emirates said its air defences were working to intercept incoming missiles from Iran early Monday, without elaborating.
3. Both Bahrain and Kuwait sounded missile alerts early Monday over incoming Iranian fire, though it wasn't clear if there was any immediate damage from the barrages.
