Turkey arrest 1,600 over internet comments in 6 months

Turkish Interior Ministry said on Saturday that authorities arrested and remanded more than 1,600 people in the last six months for comments made on social media networks.

According to a statement by the ministry, the detainees are accused of spreading provocations, hatred, praise to terrorist organisations, defamation or opinions against the territorial integrity and national security through social networks, among other crimes, Efe reports.

The note detailed that a total of 3,710 people were brought to trial during the last six months, while 1,656 of them have been remanded, another 1,203 released on parole, 84 are still in provisional detention and 767 released without charge.

According to the statement, Turkish authorities have also increased their cooperation with numerous international internet institutions to improve the fight against terrorism.

Although judicial verdicts were issued in the recent years due to opinions expressed on Twitter, there has been an increase in arrests after the two suicide bombings that hit Turkey during the last two weeks and were claimed by the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons.

Some people had expressed in social networks that they were not sad, but even happy with the deaths of Turkish police and soldiers in these attacks, triggering waves of protests from other users.