Turkish government officials condemn Facebook's censoring of Yeni Şafak

The Turkish government officially condemned the censorship of one of the most popular daily's Facebook account.

“Banning the Facebook pages of a nationally circulated newspaper, which has been conducting its publications in accordance with democratic principles, is unacceptable," said Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Yalçın Akdoğan.

He said that Facebook repeatedly denied Turkish legal applications to remove materials and content that included violence or unlawful activity according to Turkish law. But the same platform banned legal pages with over 10 million followers, he added.

“This illegal action against Yeni Şafak, which is performing a duty as a spokesperson for freedom of expression and social conscience, has deeply wounded our nation," he added.

He called on Facebook to reverse this “mistake" that contradicts its policy of freedom of expression.

Turkish Customs and Trade Minister Bülent Tüfenkçi compared Facebook to a “surveillance-based prison," after a concept designed by Jeremy Bentham in 1785.

He said that social media could not be a platform serving only the interests of global actors.

“Facebook's treatment of Yeni Şafak is not right," he said, adding, “Shutting down the Facebook pages of a well-established newspaper by the social media platform that has repeatedly advocated freedom of the press is not a correct approach."

“I hope Facebook will correct its mistake soon."

Celalettin Güvenç, the chair of the Internal Affairs Commission, said, “Yeni Şafak is the accumulation of Turkey. It does its best to protect freedoms when Turkey faces serious terror attacks. Facebook's action is not acceptable."

Fatma Benli, the deputy chair of the Human Rights Watch parliamentary commission, also condemned Facebook for its unilateral act against press freedom. She explained it as a “double standard."

On Monday, Facebook shut down the Istanbul-based daily newspaper's Turkish, Arabic and Sports pages without giving a reason. The pages, which were run through a global account, had more than 10 million fans from around the world.

Facebook's action was widely protested by Turkish online and traditional media.