Turkey bans images of border attack on online media

A Turkish court has ordered a ban on publishing images of the deadly suicide bombing on the border with Syria on all print, visual and online media, including Twitter, a Turkish official said on Wednesday.

"A court order is in place banning access to images related to the bombing," the official told AFP.

The suicide bomb attack in the mainly Kurdish town of Suruc on the border with Syria on Monday killed 32 people -- mostly young activists.

The official insisted that no formal ban had been placed by the Turkish authorities on the use of Twitter -- where many of the images had been posted -- as users complained they could not access their accounts inside the country.

But as Twitter is unable to take down every image related to the suicide attack, users could face problems, the official acknowledged.

"We are holding talks with Twitter to address this problem," the official said.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Islamic-rooted ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) have been repeatedly criticised over curbs on social media.

Turkey's parliament in April approved legislation to tighten control over the Internet by allowing the government to block websites without prior judicial authorisation.

The government blocked Twitter and YouTube in March 2014 after they were used to spread a torrent of audio recordings implicating Erdogan -- then premier -- and his inner circle in an alleged corruption scandal.

The AKP lost its overall majority for the first time in 13 years in a parliamentary election on June 7, seeking a coalition partner to form a government.
Source: AFP