Turkey Restricts Social Media Access Amid CHP Protests in Istanbul

September 8, 2025

Global internet monitor Netblock said on Monday that access to online platforms including X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and WhatsApp has been restricted on several networks in Turkey.

According to Netblock, the access disruptions occurred when the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) called for rallies after police barricaded areas around the party’s headquarters in Istanbul.

A Reuters report cited data from the Turkish Freedom of Expression Association suggesting that the access issues began at 2045 GMT on Sunday, with bandwidth for the platforms being throttled.

The Freedom of Expression Association monitors local censorship on the internet.

Turkey’s Access Providers Union, which enforces internet blocking decisions, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the access restrictions.

Turkey’s main opposition CHP urged people in Istanbul to gather on Sunday, describing the police barricades erected in areas around its headquarters in the city as a “siege.”

The CHP has been the victim of months of legal action targeting hundreds of its members — including Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, President Tayyip Erdogan’s main political opponent — whose arrest in March sparked the biggest street protests in Turkey in a decade.

Denying all charges against it, the CHP has said the legal measures are a political effort to eliminate electoral threats against Erdogan and weaken the opposition.

The latest actions against the CHP began on Tuesday when a court ordered the removal of the party’s Istanbul provincial head over alleged irregularities at its 2023 congress.

Speaking at a CHP event in Istanbul, party chairman Özgür Özal called on Turks to unite against the court ruling and the crackdown on his party.

“From here, I call on all Democrats and CHP members to whom my words and voice reach, to protect Ataturk’s house in Istanbul,” Reuters quoted Özal as saying, referring to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey.