Facebook censorship of Turkish-Dutch politician

In Turkey, dictatorial president Erdogan tries to stop being criticized, by, eg, censoring and jailing journalists.

In Germany, the government of Chancellor Merkel tries to stop criticism of their NATO and anti-refugee deal ally Erdogan by giving the green light for persecution of comedian Böhmermann who had written a satirical poem on Erdogan.

Today, NOS TV in the Netherlands reports that Facebook has deleted the account of Turkish Dutch member of parliament Keklik Yücel.

Ms Yücel is a critic of Erdogan. Even though the leaders of her party, the PvdA party, officially ‘social democratic’ junior partners in a right-wing government, support the anti-refugee deal between the European Union and Erdogan. Many rank and file PvdA members oppose that deal.

Now, it seems that one of Erdogan’s attack dogs has moaned and informed about Ms Yücel to Facebook. And that Facebook has gone along with that attack dog by deleting Ms Yücel’s page. This is not by any means the first example of Facebook censorship.

UPDATE: after protests Facebook has restored Ms Yücel’s account. They refused to say why they had deleted it; but people suspect it was because of an item about (lack of) free speech in Turkey.

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Wednesday 11th
posted by Morning Star in World

UN slams army attacks on Kurds in south-east

TURKEY’S disregard for human rights came under scrutiny from two directions yesterday, as United Nations human rights chief Zeid Raad al-Hussein and Human Rights Watch both urged an investigation.

Mr Hussein referred to reports of unarmed civilians being shot by snipers or from military vehicles in the course of security operations in Turkey’s Kurdish south-east.

Those operations focused on mainly Kurdish towns where the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is active.

“While Turkey has a duty to protect its population from acts of violence, it is essential that the authorities respect human rights at all times while undertaking security or counterterrorism operations,” said Mr Hussein.

The UN wants to investigate reports of more than 100 people being burned to death in the town of Cizre while sheltering in basements surrounded by security forces.

The UN human rights supremo said Ankara had not responded positively to the world body’s requests to visit the region and collect information.

The UN wants to investigate allegations that security forces used massive and disproportionate force contributing to the destruction of communal infrastructure and private property, as well as mass displacement of locals.

Mr Hussein noted that many districts in the south-east remain largely sealed off due to the high security presence.

“In 2016, to have such a lack of information about what is

happening in such a large and geographically accessible area is both extraordinary and deeply worrying,” he said.

“This blackout simply fuels suspicions about what has been going on.”

New York-based Human Rights Watch accused Turkish border guards of shooting and beating Syrian asylum-seekers and at least one smuggler, alleging that five refugees, including a child, were killed and 14 others wounded in March and April.

It urged Ankara to reopen its border to refugees, accusing guards of having blocked thousands after their camps near the Turkish border were attacked on April 13 and 15.

A Turkish Interior Ministry official denied the incidents cited by Human Rights Watch, insisting that his country, which has 2.7 million Syrian refugees on its soil, does not shoot at asylum-seekers.

http://morningstaronline.co.uk/a-8541-Turkey-faces-calls-for-human-rights-probe#.VzN9T-QYMdU

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