“The judge shall render his/her judgment on blocking access to be rendered within the
scope of this article by means of the method of blocking access to content (in the form of URL,
etc.) only in relation to the publication, section, part where the violation of personal rights
occur. The blockage of access to the entire publication on the web site cannot be decided on
as long as this is not compulsory. However, if the judge is of the conviction that the violation
cannot be prevented by means of the method of blocking access to content by indicating a
URL address, he/she can decide that access to the entire publication on the web site be
blocked on the condition that the justification for this decision is indicated.”
IV. EXAMINATION AND JUSTIFICATION
19. The application file was examined during the session of the court on 2/4/2014 and
the following were ordered and adjudged:
A. Claims of the Applicants
20. The applicants have asserted that access to twitter.com is blocked through the
implementation of a protection measure by TİB on the basis of the judgments rendered by the
Office of the Chief Public Prosecutor of İstanbul and some courts, that the court judgments
indicated by TİB as the basis of its action are not towards the complete blockage of access to
the web site with the domain name twitter.com, that this practice is contrary to law and is of
arbitrary nature, that it significantly restricts the right to disseminate information in addition
to the opportunity to access information, that this practice blocks access to not only the
information which exists on the said web site but also the information which will be shared on
this social network in the future and that, in its current form, it enables censorship which is
absolutely prohibited in the Constitution and that the said action is contrary to the principles
in relation to freedom of expression as guaranteed in article 10 of the Convention (European
Convention on Human Rights) which are adopted by the European Court of Human Rights
(ECHR).
21. The applicants have also asserted that access can only be blocked with a court
judgment and in relation to the part where the violation occurs in cases where there is a claim
of breach of personal rights as per clause (4) of article 9 of the Law No. 5651; that access to
the entire web site can be blocked with a court judgment only on the condition that the
justification for this is indicated; that it is a usurpation of function when TİB decides on
blocking access to a web site completely despite the court judgment ordering partial blockage
on the basis of URL; that TİB’s complete blockage of access to the web site with the domain
name twitter.com, despite the fact that the court judgments indicated as the basis of TİB ’s
decision of blockage are for the blocking of access to certain URL addresses, has no legal
basis. The applicants have requested the determination of breach by asserting that the
restriction in the form of blocking access violated their rights defined in articles 26, 27, 40
and 67 of the Constitution, claiming that the blockage of access is contrary to the criteria on
the restriction of fundamental rights and freedoms, that it does not strike the balance between
the protection of privacy and the freedom of expression and that the blockage of access to the
web site twitter.com immediately before the local elections to be held on March 30, 2014
creates an impact of indirect censorship.
B. Evaluation
1. In Terms of Admissibility
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