Turkish authorities have blocked access to the social networks Facebook and Twitter and the Google-owned video service YouTube after the publication of photographs of prosecutor Selim Kiraz, who was taken hostage and killed by militants in Istanbul, the Hurriyet Daily News reported on Monday . At the same time, the publication, citing the head of the Turkish Information and Communication Technologies Department, Typhoon Akarer, notes that access to Facebook has been unblocked.

The newspaper published a copy of the court's decision, which decided to block access to 166 sites that published the controversial photographs (the document is written in Turkish, but its contents are retold by the English-language Hurriyet Daily News). In addition to social networking sites, certain materials from Turkish newspapers are also blocked.

An unnamed source for the publication confirmed that a number of leading Turkish Internet providers blocked access to social networking sites on Monday. Secretary General of the Union of Internet Providers ESB Bülent Kent emphasized that “the procedure continues” and all other providers will take similar measures in the near future.

On March 31, militants broke into the Palace of Justice in Istanbul and took prosecutor Selim Kiraz hostage. Almost immediately after the capture, photographs taken by the militants appeared on the Internet, in which Kiraz was depicted with a pistol put to his head. The special operation to free the hostage lasted eight hours. The security forces eliminated the terrorists and freed Kiraz, but he died from his injuries in the hospital.

Türkiye blocked access to Twitter and YouTube