The ban comes after a Turkish communications official criticised the platform for what he said was a decision to block condolence posts for the killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh earlier in the week.
ADVERTISEMENTPopular social media platform Instagram has been blocked in Turkey, the country’s Information Technologies and Communication Authority (BTK) said on Friday, without giving any reason why or clue as to how long the ban will be in place.
Access to Instagram’s mobile application has also been blocked.
The BTK’s website states: «Instagram.com has been blocked by the decision of the Information Technologies and Communication Authority dated 02/08/2024 and numbered 490.05.01.2024.-608983.»
The move comes after Turkey’s Head of Communication Fahrettin Altun criticised Instagram for allegedly blocking posts of condolence for the death of Ismail Haniyeh — the Hamas political bureau chief who was killed in a predawn airstrike in Tehran, Iran on Wednesday.
Hamas immediately blamed Israel for the attack and declared Haniyeh a «martyr».
«No matter how many Palestinians Israel kills, the just cause of Palestine will not be erased from history,» Altun said on Wednesday, following news of Haniyeh’s death.
«The state of Israel will also go down in history as the perpetrator of extrajudicial killings, assassinations, occupation and genocide.»
«I also strongly condemn the social media platform Instagram, which prevented people from publishing condolence messages for Heniyeh’s martyrdom without any justification,» he continued. «This is a very clear attempt at censorship.»
Euronews has reached out to the government of Turkey for comment.
