Turkey blocks access to WikiLeaks

The website, WikiLeaks, has been blocked in Turkey following the release of snippets from emails of the members of President Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party- heads of the WikiLeaks project tweeted.

Today, on June 20, WikiLeaks released up to 300,000 emails sent by members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (Turk. AKP). WikiLeaks obtained these emails a week before the attempted armed coup. The most recent email was sent on July 6, 2016, and the oldest one dates back to 2010.

As WikiLeaks representatives have made it clear, they had not intended on publicizing these documents, but they made the decision to do so in response to President Erdoğan’s post-coup actions.

As it is emphasized in the WikiLeaks’ statement, before publicizing the documents, they verified the materials and source, which is, in no way, linked either to those behind the attempted coup or the representatives of the Turkish opposition.

 The attempted coup in Turkey and its outcome

Some military personnel attempted a state coup in Turkey on July 16. However, they failed, and the authorities decided to make an example of the uprisers.

Over 6,000 military personnel have been arrested so far. More than 9,000 police officers have been fired and about 3,000 people have been suspected of having links with the uprisers.

The number of people dismissed in total is 50,000. According to Turkish media reports, among the dismissed individuals are:

15,200 teachers and employees from the field of education;

1,577 university deans;

8,777 Interior Ministry officials;

1,500 Finance Ministry officials;

257 employees of the Prime-Minister’s Administration;

It was also indicated in the Turkish media reports that 24 radio and TV broadcasting companies have been revoked their broadcasting license.

International organizations have showed interest in the aforesaid situation. They have expressed concern over the dismissal of thousands of people. The UN observers have called on Turkey to abide by the principles of the rule of law and protection of human rights.

Published: 20.07.2016