Patreon closes account of exiled journalist over threat by Turkish gov’t

Patreon has blocked account of Kamil Maman, an exiled Turkish journalist in Canada, in Turkey after Turkish government threatened to close Patreon completely in Turkey.

“We are being asked to block access to your Patreon page in Turkey or risk having access to the entirety of Patreon blocked by the Turkish Information and Communication Technologies Authority,” said Weston Dombroski, Copyright Specialist at Patreon, in an e mail sent to inform journalist Maman.

“In order to allow other Turkish creators to maintain their presence/accessibility in Turkey, we have complied with this request and have blocked access to your page,” added Dombroski.

“This was not an easy decision for Patreon, as we are huge proponents of free speech, but it was a decision we made in order to best protect access to Turkish creators.”

Patreon also informed Turkish journalist that he could continue to use his account in other countries.

According to the e-mail, the Turkish Information and Communication Technologies Authority claimed that journalist Maman has violated Turkish law no: 5651 which is on ‘regulation of the publications on the internet and combating crimes committed by means of such publications.’

Patreon has been an important platform for exiled Turkish journalists, academics to continue to their activities by online contributions of people.

“Dictator [Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan has made my Patreon account blocked in Turkey. I condemn Patreon for giving in the pressure,” said Maman in his Twitter message on Thursday.

“I think they [Turkish government] are not happy with our publications.”

Maman was a reporter for Bugün daily, which was seized by Turkish government in 2015 and closed following the failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016. He is on the list of journalists who are being sought by Turkish judiciary.

Turkey is ranked 157th among 180 countries in the 2018 World Press Freedom Index released by Reporters Without Borders (RSF). If Turkey falls two more places, it will make it to the list of countries on the blacklist, which have the poorest record in press freedom.

Turkey is the biggest jailer of journalists in the world. The most recent figures documented by SCF show that 236 journalists and media workers were in jail as of September 20, 2018, most in pretrial detention. Of those in prison 168 were under arrest pending trial while only 68 journalists have been convicted and are serving their time. Detention warrants are outstanding for 147 journalists who are living in exile or remain at large in Turkey.

The post Patreon closes account of exiled journalist over threat by Turkish gov’t appeared first on Turkish Minute.

from Turkish Minute https://www.turkishminute.com/2018/09/28/patreon-closes-account-of-exiled-journalist-over-threat-by-turkish-govt/