Turkey’s Constitutional Court website down after ruling on presidency’s censorship practices

Duvar English

Turkey’s Constitutional Court’s (AYM) website on Aug. 2 became inaccessible after it published its ruling on Presidency’s Directorate of Communications, cancelling certain powers that could “interfere with freedom of expression and freedom of the press.”

AYM deleted the decision that it published on its social media account less than an hour later. However, the decision published in the latest issue of the Official Gazette.

On Aug. 2, afternoon, AYM shared another post on X and stated that its ruling has been still accessible, yet its website have been unavailable “due to high traffic.”

Those who tried to access the website of the country’s top court encountered the error "the service is unavailable.”

The AYM cancelled the directorate’s authority to engage in "activities against all kinds of manipulation and disinformation" as it deemed them “unconstitutional.” 

“It is understood that the tasks assigned to this directorate include regulations on prohibited areas that cannot be regulated by a presidential decree," the AYM noted.

These event coincided with the access ban on Instagram along with its ruling stating parliament's decision to strip jailed opposition MP Can Atalay's lawmaker status was unlawful.

The Directorate of Communications was established through a Presidential Decree in July 2018 with the main objective of "strengthening the Turkish brand." With exorbitant budgets surpassing various ministries, the directorate has drawn criticism in the past from opposition politicians.

Dubbing it the “Propaganda Directorate,” opposition politicians have stated that the directorate used its extensive means to circulate ruling Justice and Development Party's (AKP) talking points and spread disinformation on opposition parties, especially in the months leading up to 2023 general elections.

Directorate head Fahrettin Altun has been an outspoken supporter of the ruling AKP and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, often personally taking the stand to dismiss oppositional news outlets.

One of the latest project of the directorate became the "fight against disinformation" which once again turned into another addition to the government's propaganda machine.

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