Turkiye blocks access to Instagram

Turkiye has blocked access to the social media platform Instagram, according to its national communications authority, as per a report in the Al Jazeera. The decision comes after a top government official slammed Instagram for “censoring” Hamas-related content.

In a post on its website, the communications authority said that “instagram.com has been blocked by a decision on the date of 02/08/2024”, without stating a reason.

On Wednesday, the country’s Communications Director, Fahrettin Altun, accused the social media platform of blocking condolence posts on the death of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh, Al Jazeera reported. Altun accused Israel of trying to plunge the region into further turmoil through killings and secret operations.

In a post on X, Altun stated, “I also strongly condemn the social media platform Instagram, which prevents people from posting condolences on Haniye’s martyrdom without giving any reason. This is a very clear and obvious attempt at censorship.”

“We will continue to defend freedom of expression against these platforms, which have repeatedly shown that they serve the global system of exploitation and injustice. We will stand by our Palestinian brothers at every opportunity and on every platform. Palestine will be free sooner or later. Israel and its supporters will not be able to prevent this,” he added.

On July 31, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said that Hamas Political Bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh had been killed in an attack in Iran’s capital, Tehran.

In a statement, the IRGC said that Haniyeh and one of his bodyguards were killed when their house was hit in Tehran. A projectile hit a residence allocated to war veterans in Tehran at 2 am (local time) on Wednesday, according to a Press TV report.

In a statement to Mehr News Agency, the IRGC said, “With condolences to the heroic nation of Palestine and the Islamic nation and the combatants of the Resistance Front and the noble nation of Iran, this morning (Wednesday) the residence of Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the political office of the Islamic Resistance of Hamas, was hit in Tehran, and following this incident, he and one of his bodyguards were martyred.”

The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the killing of Ismail Haniyeh and offered condolences to the Palestinian people.

It accused the Israeli government of lacking intention to achieve peace. It said that the attack was aimed at spreading war in Gaza to a regional level. It further said that Turkiye will continue to support the “just cause” of the Palestinian people.

In a statement, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “The Netanyahu Government’s lack of intention to achieve peace has been demonstrated once again. This attack is also aimed at spreading the war in Gaza to a regional level. If the international community does not act to stop Israel, our region will face an even greater conflict.”