Turkey’s internet regulator has blocked access to Instagram, with reports suggesting it is linked to the death of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh.
This move is the latest in a series of social media restrictions in Turkey, which has a history of shutting down websites, having blocked hundreds of thousands since 2022.
Although the Information and Communication Technologies Authority did not provide an official reason for its decision early on Friday, Turkish media outlets claim it is in response to Instagram’s handling of condolence messages related to Haniyeh’s death on Wednesday (July 31).
Haniyeh’s death was mourned with a procession in Tehran, and Turkey is flying its flags at half-mast today.
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The Turkish government had previously accused Instagram of blocking posts from Turkish users expressing condolences for Haniyeh.
On Wednesday, Turkey’s communications director Fahrettin Altun wrote on X that Instagram was “impeding people from publishing messages of condolence for the martyr Haniyeh”, adding that it was “censorship, pure and simple”.
Yeni Safak, a conservative pro-Erdogan newspaper, reported that this was the reason behind the authority’s decision.
“Sanctions for Instagram’s blackout policy were swift. The Information Technologies and Communication Authority blocked access to Instagram,” the outlet wrote.
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Instagram has been contacted for comment.
Ismail Haniyeh was killed by a remotely-detonated explosive device in Tehran on Wednesday morning.
Turkey does not consider Hamas a terrorist organization, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan previously describing its members as “liberation fighters.” The country has been strongly critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza.
On Friday, Turkey will observe a day of mourning for Haniyeh, a close ally of Erdogan, whom he last met in April.
Haniyeh was killed in the early hours of Wednesday by a remotely-activated explosive device planted in his guest house before he was due to attend the inauguration of Iran’s newly-elected President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Ekrem Imamoglu, Istanbul’s mayor and a member of Turkey’s main opposition party, criticized the communications authority, saying it was acting as a “censorship unit.”
He wrote on X: “Social media is a platform that everyone uses for many purposes, including commerce and communication. It is unacceptable that a platform used by the entire country is arbitrarily shut down one morning.”
According to the Freedom of Expression Association, a non-profit organization, Turkey has blocked access to 953,415 websites based on 821,285 decisions made by 833 institutions and judicial authorities.
Video-sharing platform YouTube was previously blocked in Turkey between 2007 and 2010 and was sued for “insulting Turkishness.”
