Minister Uraloğlu: If Instagram takes necessary action, Türkiye will lift access ban

Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu conducted inspections at the Alanya-Gazipaşa Road Gökçebelen Tunnel Construction Site, which is still under construction in Gazipaşa, Antalya. After receiving a briefing on the ongoing work, Minister Uraloğlu made a statement to the press regarding the access ban imposed on the photo and video-sharing application Instagram in Türkiye.

"IF THEY TAKE THE NECESSARY ACTION, WE WILL LIFT THE ACCESS BAN"

Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said, "There are some social media platforms with representatives in our country – all of them have representatives. There are certain rules, laws, and regulations that we want to be enforced. We sometimes see problems with compliance despite our warnings. We have a framework we refer to as 'catalog crimes' that they have ignored despite all our latest warnings. We warned them within this framework, but since we did not get the necessary response, we imposed an access ban. If they address the mentioned issues, sensitivities, and parts of our law that they are not complying with, we will take the necessary action and lift this access ban."

"WE ARE IN COMMUNICATION WITH THEM"

When asked if there are plans regarding other social media platforms, Minister Uraloğlu replied, "We are a country of law. We are certainly monitoring this. We are in communication with them. I can say that they have complied with many of the things we have requested; however, sometimes this does not always happen. Particularly, if they do not consider the rules we have set both legally and judicially, as well as some of our societal sensitivities, we have to intervene. We are trying to manage the feelings of our citizens correctly in this regard."

"WE EXPECT EVERYONE TO FOLLOW THE RULES"

Regarding whether there has been any response from Instagram about the access ban, Uraloğlu said, "We are in communication. Our colleagues are in discussions with the current representative in Turkey. Our sensitivities are clear, the deficiencies are clear, and the moment they address these deficiencies – say, within an hour – we will lift the ban. But this is an independent country; a country with laws and rules. We clearly expect everyone to follow these laws and rules."