In yet another move by Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) government to silence dissident voices in the media, access to two personal blogs of US-based journalist İlhan Tanır was banned in Turkey on Tuesday.
Tanır, known for his objective Turkey-related stories and analysis from Washington, D.C., wrote on his Twitter account: “Apparently, Turkish gvt got nothing to do and go after my personal blogs. They shutdown my 2nd blog site this week. Ridiculous. Crazy!”
The AKP government has shut down scores of TV and radio stations, newspapers and other media outlets critical of the AKP government in the last three years, recently accelerated during the state of emergency declared after a failed military coup on July 15.
The Turkish government has also banned access to hundreds of Twitter accounts, websites and blogs owned by dissident journalists from Turkey.