ISTANBUL // Turkey briefly blocked access to Twitter on Wednesday to prevent images of Monday's deadly bombing from being broadcast and to block Twitter users from calling for protests against the government, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
The dispute highlighted the tensions in Turkey after the suicide bombing in the south-eastern border city of Suruc, which killed 32 people and wounded scores.
Many blame the government for not doing enough to prevent the attack. Turkish officials say the Suruc bombing is part of a retaliation campaign by the ISIL group for the government’s crackdown on its operations in Turkey.
A government official said Turkey had asked Twitter to remove 107 URLs with images of the bombing’s aftermath. Twitter had removed about 50 of the URLs before it was blocked.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said access to Twitter was restored after the company “removed malicious content, including hate speech, in line with the court order”.
Earlier on Wednesday, a court in Suruc issued a ban on the publication of images related to the bombing in the media, including on the internet and on social media platforms. It also ruled that access be barred to websites not complying with the ban, Anadolu reported.
Meanwhile, authorities have confirmed that Monday’s attack was a suicide bombing and identified the bomber as Seyh Abdurrahman Alagoz, a 20-year-old Turkish national who was confirmed through DNA testing.
Anadolu said the older brother of Alagoz ran a now-closed down tea house where ISIL was believed to have recruited followers. The two brothers had disappeared six months ago. They had been reported as missing two months ago by their family, which lives in Adiyaman, the province north of Suruc.
Anadolu said the two were wanted by authorities as “missing persons with possible terrorism traits”.
Also Wednesday, a pro-Kurdish news agency said Kurdish militants have claimed an attack on two policemen who were found dead in their home in the town of Ceylanpinar, near the border with Syria, with gunshots in their heads.
The Firat news agency said the attack was carried out in retaliation to the Suruc bombing to "punish" the policemen it claimed had collaborated with "ISIL gangs".
Turkish officials say they have detained more than 500 people suspected of working with ISIL in the last six months – including an investigation of ISIL recruitment networks in Turkey that this month identified 21 suspects.
Protests have erupted in Istanbul and other cities since Monday’s bombing, with demonstrators blaming the government for the attack in city close to the border with Syria.
On Tuesday, police detained some people before they could march to a local ruling party office in Istanbul. Protesters also threw fireworks as police officers attempted to disperse a crowd at a separate protest in Istanbul.
Turkey has periodically blocked social media. The government ordered a temporary block on Twitter and YouTube earlier this year during a hostage crisis in an Istanbul courthouse.
The same sites were also blocked last year after audio recordings of a secret Turkish security meeting that suggested corruption by government officials were leaked on social media. Turkey’s highest court, however, overturned those bans deeming them to be unconstitutional.
Previous moves by Turkish authorities to block the social media networks have provoked widespread criticism by western governments and human rights groups.
* Associated Press
