Lifting of the Access Ban
Decisions issued during the investigation phase may be lifted by the prosecutor, while those issued during the prosecution phase may be lifted by the courts. Affected individuals may appeal the decision imposing an access ban—implemented as a protective measure by the prosecutor, judge, or court—within 7 days. Affected individuals may be considered to include anyone impacted by this ban. Thus, even users who access the relevant content may object to the access ban within 7 days. Such an objection is filed in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code (CMK). Following the objection, the decision issued by the judge or court is communicated to the Telecommunications Authority (TIB), and the access ban is lifted by notifying service providers and the Electronic Communications Board (ESB) of this decision.
As noted above, pursuant to Article 8 of Law No. 5651, if the Prosecutor decides that there is no basis for prosecution in this matter, the access blocking decision automatically becomes invalid during the investigation of the offenses specified in the article. If the prosecution phase has been completed and the court has issued an acquittal, the access blocking decision automatically becomes invalid. In both cases, a copy of the KYOK decision issued by the Prosecutor and the acquittal decision issued by the court are sent to the TIB, and the TIB lifts the access block by notifying the ESB of the relevant decision.
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The published content is mandatory pursuant to Articles 8 and 9 of Law No. 5651. If the content constitutes one of the offenses specified in Article 9, and the content provider removes the content, the decision applied as a precautionary measure is lifted since its continuation is no longer applicable; if the content constitutes a violation of personal rights under the relevant article and there is an access block in this regard, it is lifted.
However, in practice, the access ban rarely lifts automatically. Since decisions issued by public prosecutors or courts in this regard are often not communicated to the TIB and consequently to the ESB, the access restriction on the relevant website does not automatically cease. If information regarding the removal of content constituting a crime or infringing on personal rights is obtained from the public prosecutor or the court, and a request is made to lift the access restriction in the future, the measure is lifted. To prove that the content has been removed, the electronic verification service of the Turkish Notaries Union may be utilized.
If the TIB issues a decision to block access, this will constitute an administrative measure. The relevant legal provisions do not provide for any avenue of appeal against this decision, which is issued as an administrative measure. However, if the affected parties have filed a compensation claim in administrative courts due to the annulment of administrative proceedings or have suffered damages, they may still file a full judicial lawsuit in administrative courts.