Court Says Websites Insult Army

An Ankara court has ordered to halt the publication of the websites of the Ekmek ve Adalet (Bread and Justice) magazine and Ozgur Politika (Free Politics) newspaper.

Due to the court order, all access to these sites will be restricted by using filters.

Judge Erdal Isik said the Internet sites "insulted Turkish armed forces."

The website of the weekly Ekmek ve Adalet magazine, "ekmekveadalet.com" is hosted by a foreign service provider.

With the Ankara court's decision on May 21, 2003, the publication of the site was halted. The court also decided to restrict all access to the by using filters. The site cannot be accessed.

"The army was insulted"

The court said that the content of the websites "insulted the Turkish armed forces," but did not provide any further concrete reasons for its decision."Free Politics" site also shut

With a similar decision reached on the same day, the publication of the website of the daily Ozgur Politika newspaper published in Europe was also halted. (EO/BB/EA/NM)