Turkiye blocked access to Instagram

Turkey has blocked access to social media platform Instagram, according to its National Communications Authority, according to a report by Al Jazeera. The decision comes after a top government official criticised Instagram for “censoring” Hamas-related content.

In a post on its website, the communications authority said “instagram.com is blocked by decision dated 02/08/2024”, without giving a reason.

On Wednesday, the country’s communications director Fahrettin Altun accused social media platforms of blocking condolence posts over the death of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh, Al Jazeera reported. Altun accused Israel of trying to plunge the region into further turmoil through assassinations and covert operations.

In a post on X, Altun said, “I also strongly condemn the social media platform Instagram for preventing people from expressing condolences over Haniyye’s martyrdom without giving any reason. This is a very clear and obvious attempt at censorship.”

he/she added, “We will continue to defend freedom of expression against these platforms, which have shown time and again that they serve a global system of exploitation and injustice. We will stand with our Palestinian brothers at every opportunity and in every platform. Palestine will be free sooner or later. Israel and its supporters will not be able to stop it.”

Ismail Haniyeh, the political bureau chief of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, was martyred with humility that his/her enemies could never understand. We pray God’s mercy for our martyr, who is known in history as one of the greatest heroes of the Palestinian movement. The head of the Islamic world and Palestine…

— Fahrettin Altun (@fahrettinaltun) July 31, 2024

On July 31, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said that Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an attack in the Iranian capital Tehran.

The IRGC said in a statement that Haniyeh and one of his/her bodyguards were killed when their home in Tehran was attacked. A projectile hit a residence allocated to war veterans in Tehran at 2 a.m. (local time) on Wednesday, reports Press TV.

In a statement to Mehr News Agency, the IRGC said, “With condolences to the heroic nation of Palestine and the Islamic nation and the fighters of the Resistance Front and the great nation of Iran, this morning (Wednesday) the residence of Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political office of the Islamic Resistance of Hamas, was attacked in Tehran and following the incident, he/she and one of his/her bodyguards were martyred.”

The Turkish Foreign Ministry condemned the killing of Ismail Haniyya and expressed condolences to the Palestinian people.

It accused the Israeli government of lacking the intention to establish peace. It said the attack was aimed at spreading the war in Gaza to a regional level. It further said Turkiye would continue to support the “just cause” of the Palestinian people.

“The Netanyahu government’s lack of desire to make peace has been exposed once again. This attack is also aimed at spreading the war in Gaza to a regional level. If the international community does not take action to stop Israel, our region will face an even bigger conflict,” Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.