Turkey passed a decried disinformation law on Thursday (October 13th) which, eight months before the general election, punishes up to three years in prison for anyone accused of spreading "false or misleading information".

Debated since the beginning of October, the 40 articles of the text officially called "press law", have been the subject of numerous amendments tabled in vain by the opposition which denounces for its part a "censorship law".

Article 29, in particular, provides for prison sentences of one to three years for "spreading false or misleading information, contrary to the internal and external security of the country and likely to harm public health, disturb the public order, to spread fear or panic among the population".

Unlikely to be arrested

In addition to newspapers, radios, televisions, the law targets social networks and websites which will be asked to denounce and deliver the personal information of their users accused of spreading false news.

The opposition unsuccessfully tried to block this text tabled in May by AKP deputies - the Justice and Development Party of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who will run for a new term in June 2023. But with a majority of 334 seats out of 581 for the AKP and its allies in Parliament, the text had little chance of being adopted.

In December 2021 the Head of State estimated that social networks, first perceived as a symbol of freedom, had "become one of the main threats to democracy".

With a hammer

In the last hours of the debates and in a fit of mood, a deputy from the opposition CHP (social democrat) party, Burak Erbay, addressing the Turkish youth who "will be voting for the first time in June" - and who bears the full brunt of the serious economic crisis -, brandished his smartphone and crushed it with a blow of a hammer.

"You only have one freedom, it's this phone in your pocket. There you have Instagram, YouTube, Facebook. You exchange. Today, October 12, if the law is passed by this Parliament, you You can break them like that, my young brothers. Because you won't be able to use them anymore."

Then turning to the government: "Let me warn you: in June 2023, these dear young people will give you the lesson you deserve."

Meral Danis Bektas, elected HDP (opposition, pro-Kurdish) also considered that "this law is a declaration of war on the truth".

"Disinformation Bulletin"

The law further stipulates that the presidency will be responsible for preparing a "Disinformation Bulletin every Monday (...) in order to inform the public about disinformation and false news".

The bill has aroused many concerns in journalistic circles and human rights organizations which had mobilized at the beginning of the month, masked in black in front of Parliament.

A dozen associations and unions of journalists, including Reporters Without Borders (RSF) had denounced the text as an attempt at censorship on the part of the government.

“Obstruction” of freedom of expression

"Turkey is entering difficult times: everyone will be affected by this law" tweeted Thursday evening the lawyer and co-director of an association for the defense of the press (MLSA), Veysel Ok, himself sued several times in the past. , listing "the opposition, NGOs, associations of lawyers, journalists and ordinary citizens....".

According to RSF's ranking, Turkey will rank 149th out of 180 countries in 2022 for freedom of information.

Before the law passed, the Council of Europe had denounced an "obstructing" of the freedom of expression guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights.

At the beginning of October, he was worried about "the potential consequences" of the text, in particular a risk of "reinforcement of self-censorship" in view of the next elections.

With AFP

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