Turkey coup: Here’s what Erdogan has banned after attempted military takeover

TURKEY is a country in crisis and its president wants to maintain power and stability. But some measures are raising eyebrows.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to hunt down the ‘terrorist’ group behind last week’s bloody coup attempt.

TURKEY is a country in crisis and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is doing all he can to maintain power after a failed military coup.

Desperate people do desperate things so it’s no surprise the Turkish leader has introduced a range of measures to keep hold of power.

Today the president declared he would rid the military of the “virus” of subversion and gave the government sweeping powers to expand a crackdown that has already included mass arrests and the closure of hundreds of schools.

But that’s not the only thing he has done to maintain tighter control.

From censoring the country’s media to banning social media, Erdogan is determined to squash all dissent.

Here are just some of the things that will land you in trouble with Turkish authorities.

BAN WORK TRIPS

Turkey’s higher education council has already banned academics from work trips abroad and urged those overseas to quickly return home, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

It also told universities that academics who are already abroad on work or study missions should return home “within the shortest possible time”.

The council asked university rectors to “urgently examine the situation of all academic and administrative personnel linked with US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen.

Mr Gulen, a reclusive 75-year-old Islamic preacher, has been in exile in the US since 1999, but wields enormous influence in Turkish society, with supporters in the media, police and judiciary.

Relatives and friends of detained soldiers, accused of participating on the July 15 attempted coup stand outside the gates of the Istanbul courthouse waiting for news of their loved-ones. Picture: Bram Janssen

SORRY, NO TWITTER

Human rights groups have long protested about government interference in social media use.

Following the coup, internet monitoring groups said people reported issues with using Facebook and Twitter. However, the crackdown appeared to ease as the events unfolded and numerous citizens broadcast live video on Facebook and sent tweets.

Turkey regularly places restrictions on social media, particularly in the lead up to elections, Reuters reported.

FORGET WIKILEAKS

Turkey has prevented its citizens accessing WikiLeaks, the site which releases top secret information.

The ban aims to curtail those in Turkey from reading details about the country’s power structures and government, INews reported.

Although good old WikiLeaks has come up with a way around this.

Turks blocked from WikiLeaks can use a proxy or any of our IPs https://141.105.65.113/akp-emails/ (confirm security exception) #Turkey

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) July 20, 2016

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

Turkey has regularly censored the country’s media with human rights group Amnesty International warning journalists will be the latest victim of the sweeping crackdown.

Amnesty said the government wanted to investigate and punish those responsible for the coup but it should not be done at the expense of freedom of speech.

Andrew Gardner, Amnesty International’s Turkey researcher said: “We are witnessing a crackdown of exceptional proportions in Turkey at the moment. While it is understandable, and legitimate, that the government wishes to investigate and punish those responsible for this bloody coup attempt, they must abide by the rule of law and respect freedom of expression.”

THE INTERNET

Visit certain internet sites and you may find yourself in trouble.

According to Amnesty, authorities arbitrarily blocked access to more than 20 news websites in the days following the coup attempt.

It fears more will be blocked in the coming days.

Looking to use Twitter in Turkey? It might not be as easy as you think. Picture: Richard Drew