Court blocks access to reports about employment agency official's deceptive conduct towards job-seeking women

Click to read the article in Turkish

Access to 422 online news articles and other content has been banned in connection with a senior official at the Turkish Employment Agency (İŞKUR), who stands accused of deceiving women with promises of job opportunities to engage in sexual relationships with them. The official, Gıyas Güven, was subsequently suspended from his position.

Among the blocked content are reports pertaining to the allegations surrounding Gıyas Güven, who was serving as the İŞKUR provincial director in Ağrı at the time the accusations came to light.

Güven's temporary suspension was reportedly followed by his transfer to the position of an investigator at the Çankırı İŞKUR Provincial Directorate. Online content about this allegation was also banned.

As reported by FreewebTurkey, an organization monitoring internet censorship, in August 2022, Gıyas Güven was accused of enticing women seeking employment by promising them jobs and engaging in sexual relationships with them. Supporting this claim, a series of images were released, suggesting Güven's involvement.

Shortly after the allegations emerged, the Turkish Employment Agency (İŞKUR) issued a statement, acknowledging the circulated content and initiating an investigation into the matter. As a result, Güven was suspended from his duties.

About a year aftet rhe surfacing of the allegations, Güven took legal action to restrict access to news articles and social media posts related to the case.

This action led to a court decision, dated June 22, by the Elazığ 1st Penal Judgeship of Peace, which resulted in the blocking of 225 tweets, 165 news articles, 24 Facebook posts, 3 Reddit posts, 2 YouTube videos, 2 Instagram posts, and one entry on Ekşi Sözlük. (EMK/VK)