Turkish official gives positive signals on Instagram

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) – A top Turkish official on Tuesday gave positive signals for restored access to Instagram in Türkiye so long as the social media platform meets the country’s rules.

Abdulkadir Uraloglu, the transport and infrastructure minister, said Turkish officials and Instagram representatives had met twice, last week and on Monday, to discuss the situation.

On Friday, Türkiye began to block access to the platform.

Previously, Türkiye made several notifications to Instagram concerning material on the platform on crimes such as gambling or sexual offenses, but Instagram’s response fell short, he said.

Türkiye has laws and rules, and companies active in the country must comply with them, he stressed.

Mentioning how condolence messages for Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader who was assassinated last week, were deleted from the platform, Uraloglu said: "This is censorship and blocking."

"I think they will take our sensitivities into consideration before too long, we will open access immediately if our demands are met," he said.

He cited how Instagram's parent firm Meta apologized for removing social media posts by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim related to Haniyeh's death.

"But they removed many of our posts, they block accounts without any warning, but there’s no apology," he added.

Türkiye will protect its own values and laws, but the country does not and never has taken a prohibitionist approach, he stressed.