For years, the Turkish population has been witnessing the numerous attacks on freedom of expression in their country since Recep Tayyip Erdogan became president in 2014.
Censorship has been one of the hallmarks of the government which, now, in the midst of all the disputes in which the country is immersed, intends to pass a new law that will attack, once again, the fundamental rights of Turkish society.
The new law that Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government intends to push through will allow penalties regulated in the Penal Code to be imposed on people who create or publish false news on social media.
It also includes the option of sanctioning those who use the networks to insult or threaten other users. A law that, a priori, should not really have negative effects on the rights of Turks, but given the track record of the current government, it is very difficult - not to say impossible - to believe that such measures are created to be used in good faith and not for the benefit of the party in power.
According to the media outlet KRT, in the new regulation drafted by Justice and Development, it was decided that those accused of insulting a person on social media would be prosecuted and could face a prison sentence of 3 months to 2 years, and those who post or share false news would face a sentence of 1 to 5 years.
However, this comes as no surprise to the Turkish population, who have long been warning, from some of the opposition opinion leaders, that the passing of such a measure was only a matter of time.
The Turkish society knows better than anyone the ways of a president who has done and continues to do everything he can to maintain absolute control over the information that reaches the population of the country he presides over, with the sole aim of perpetuating his power .
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