Internet rights that went wrong in Turkey

This report presents an up-to-date assessment of internet rights in Turkey, and has been prepared to coincide with the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2014 which is being hosted by Turkey in Istanbul from 2–5 September 2014. The IGF is a space that strives for a democratic and inclusive internet and this report assesses the Turkish government’s respect for international human rights standards in relation to freedom of expression online. The assessment is based on the La Rue framework[1] and focuses on internet regulation, internet access, blocking, surveillance, liability of internet intermediaries, criminalisation of legitimate expression, and cyber-attacks. The report concludes with recommendations for actions to promote and protect an open and free internet in Turkey.

[1] The framework was developed by the Association for Progressive Communications and is based on the work of the former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression Frank La Rue. It is available online at: http://www.apc.org/en/system/files/APC_FLRFramework_20140620.pdf