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Mehmet Selim Kiraz
Turkish net companies have been ordered to block access to social media sites to stop the sharing of photos of Mehmet Selim Kiraz, who was taken hostage during last week’s armed siege in Istanbul.
A Turkish court has told Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and more than 150 other sites to remove images taken during the siege.
The block on Facebook and Twitter was lifted after the two social networks complied with the court order.
Currently, YouTube remains blocked in Turkey.
Before imposing the blocks on the websites, Turkish authorities had moved to stop newspapers printing the images.
The newspapers were accused by the government of disseminating “terrorist propaganda” for the DHKP-C group that was reportedly behind the attack on the courthouse. The DHKP-C is considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the EU and US.
The siege ended with the gunmen and their hostage being killed when police stormed the building in a rescue bid.
Mehmet Selim Kiraz was apparently taken hostage because he headed an investigation into the death of a boy during anti-government protests that took place in 2013.
The pictures showing attackers holding a gun to Mehmet Selim Kiraz’s head were being widely shared on social media, leading authorities to act, reported Turkish newspaper Hurriyet.
“The wife and children of prosecutor Kiraz have been deeply upset. The images are everywhere,” a senior Turkish official told the Reuters news agency.
In total, 166 websites which shared the images were blocked by the court order.
YouTube published the text of the court ruling on its website saying an “administration measure” had been enacted by Turkey’s telecoms authority. It said it was seeking ways to restore access.
Facebook was also subject to the same block but it is believed the restrictions on it were lifted because it removed the images before the expiration of a deadline imposed by the court. Twitter reacted more slowly and access to the messaging system was blocked for several hours on April 6.
Turkish prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz and two gunmen who took him hostage were killed in a shootout with security forces in Istanbul.
Thousands of people have attended the funeral ceremony for Mehmet Selim Kiraz inside the courthouse in Istanbul where he died on March 31.
On April 1, a man who burst into a district office of Turkey’s ruling AK Party was detained by security forces.
The intruder, said to be armed, entered the building in the Kartal district ordering those inside to leave.
Photo Hurriyet
Mehmet Selim Kiraz had been investigating the case of a teenager who died nine months after being hit on the head by a police tear gas canister during anti-government protests in 2013.
The hostage-taking was blamed on a banned Marxist revolutionary group.
Turkish TV broadcast footage of Wednesday morning’s security incident, showing a man flying a Turkish flag with a sword on it from a window of the AKP office.
It was not clear if the attacker was politically motivated.
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Turkish prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz has been badly wounded and two gunmen who took him hostage killed after a shootout at a courthouse in Istanbul, officials say.
Gunshots were heard and smoke was seen rising from the scene, after special forces reportedly entered the building.
Mehmet Selim Kiraz was apparently taken hostage because he had headed an inquiry into the death of teenager Berkin Elvan during anti-government protests in 2013.
A banned Marxist revolutionary group is said to be behind the incident.
A statement posted online had said Mehmet Selim Kiraz would be killed if the group’s demands were not met.
Istanbul’s police chief Selami Altunok said that police had negotiated with the gunmen for six hours, but eventually stormed the courthouse “because of gunshots heard from inside the prosecutor’s office”.
“Our prosecutor is in hospital and seriously wounded,” he said, adding that he would require an operation.
The gunmen had released dramatic images of a gun being held to the head of Mehmet Selim Kiraz as the hostage crisis unfolded.
The Turkish government banned live TV coverage of the incident, citing security concerns.
Sukriye Erden, a lawyer negotiating with the hostage takers, said they had demanded that the police announce the names of four members of the security services whom they said were connected to the death of Berkin Elvan.
Berkin Elvan, who was then 14, was struck in the head by a police tear gas canister in June 2013 as he went to buy bread during mass demonstrations that began in Istanbul and spread across Turkey.
He died in an Istanbul hospital last year, after spending nine months in a coma.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, now Turkey’s president, inflamed passions shortly after the teenager’s death when he said the boy had been carrying a slingshot and had been “taken up into terrorist organiations”.
Suspected members of the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) took the prosecutor hostage on the sixth floor of the Caglayan court house, reports said.
The DHKP-C is considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and US. It said it carried out a suicide bombing in February 2013 at the US embassy in Ankara, where a security guard was killed.
In January, a man linked to the banned Marxist group was arrested near the prime minister’s offices in Istanbul, reportedly after throwing two grenades that failed to explode.
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Turkish prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz, who is heading the inquiry into the death of teenager Berkin Elvan during anti-government protests in 2013, has been taken hostage by gunmen in Istanbul.
Dramatic images have emerged on social media of a gun being held to the head of Mehmet Selim Kiraz at a court house in Istanbul.
A banned Marxist revolutionary group is said to be behind the incident.
A statement posted online said Mehmet Selim Kiraz would be killed if their demands were not met.
Turkish special forces entered the court house, which was evacuated, and gunshots were heard from inside the building, Turkish news agencies reported.
City police chief Selami Altinok told reporters that negotiations with the hostage takers were under way.
“We are trying to resolve the issue without anyone being hurt,” he said.
The Turkish government has banned live TV coverage of the incident, citing security concerns.
Berkin Elvan, who was then 14, was struck in the head by a police tear gas canister in June 2013 as he went to buy bread during mass demonstrations that began in Istanbul and spread across Turkey.
After nine months in a coma Berkin Elvan eventually died in an Istanbul hospital.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan inflamed passions shortly after Berkin Elvan’s death when he said the boy had been carrying a slingshot and had been “taken up into terrorist organizations”.
Suspected members of the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) took the prosecutor hostage on the sixth floor of the Caglayan court house, reports said.
A website close to the group has published a series of demands, including calls for an immediate confession from police officers responsible for the boy’s death, and for an end to prosecutions of protesters charged over the clashes.
Berkin Elvan’s father appealed for the prosecutor to be freed: “My son is dead but let no-one else die.”
The DHKP-C is considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and US. It said it carried out a suicide bombing in February 2013 at the US embassy in Ankara, where a security guard was killed.
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