ANKARA: Turkey urged Libya to refrain from any steps that would lead to renewed conflict and called on authorities to follow democratic processes, amid a crisis over control of executive power in the country.
Libya’s political crisis has escalated since the collapse of a scheduled election in December that was planned as part of a peace process to reunify the country after years of chaos and war following a 2011 NATO-backed uprising.
Turkey has provided military support and training to Libya’s former internationally recognized Government of National Accord, and helped it fight off an assault lasting several months on the capital Tripoli by eastern Libyan forces led by Khalifa Haftar. It still has military personnel and Syrian militia fighters in Libya.
Ankara has supported the peace process but remained largely silent since the latest turmoil in Libya after the formation of two rival governments.
After an almost 4-hour meeting chaired by President Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday, Turkey’s National Security Council (MGK) said a “calm in Libya that was achieved through big sacrifices” was an opportunity for peace.
The MGK called on parties involved in Libya to “refrain from steps that could cause new clashes” and urged authorities in the country to “follow democratic processes on a basis of legitimacy for the achievement of lasting peace and stability.”
An interim Government of National Unity, which Ankara backs, was installed last year to oversee the run-up to elections and reunify divided state institutions.
When the elections collapsed, the House of Representatives parliament in the east, based in Tobruk, said that the government’s term had expired and it designated a new administration and set elections for next year.
However, the prime minister of the unity government said he would only relinquish power after elections, and armed forces backing each side have mobilized around Tripoli, raising fears of another conflict or a return to territorial division.
A date for a new election has not been set.
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Turkey urges Libya to avoid steps that could renew clashes
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Turkey urges Libya to avoid steps that could renew clashes
- Libya’s political crisis has escalated since the collapse of a scheduled election in December
Turkiye edges toward curbing social media access to minors amid global push
ISTANBUL: Turkiye is laying the groundwork to restrict social media access for minors with a parliamentary report this week calling for broad measures including age verification and content filtering, joining a growing list of countries seeking tighter controls.
President Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AK Party is expected to submit a draft law on the issue soon and Family and Social Services Minister Mahinur Ozdemir Goktas told reporters after a cabinet meeting last month that the bill would include a social media ban for minors and compel service providers to build content-filtering systems.
The wide-ranging recommendations in this week’s commission report also include the removal of content without notice and the monitoring of kids’ video games or toys with AI functionality for harmful content.
Australia in December became the world’s first country to ban social media for children under 16, blocking them from platforms including TikTok, Alphabet’s GOOGL.O YouTube and Meta’s META.O Instagram and Facebook.
Spain wants to prohibit social media for under-16s, while Greece and Slovenia are working on a similar ban amid mounting concerns over its impact on children’s health and safety. France, Britain and Germany are also considering restrictions for minors.
REPORT RECOMMENDS NIGHT-TIME RESTRICTIONS
The Turkish parliamentary report further recommends night-time Internet restrictions for devices used by minors under 18, mandatory content filtration on social media until aged 18 and a social media ban until aged 16.
“We need to protect our kids from moral erosion. We aim to protect our children from all types of addictions, including digital ones,” Harun Mertoglu, senior AKP lawmaker and a member of parliament’s human rights enquiry committee, told Reuters.
Some parents echo the sentiment. Shopkeeper Belma Kececioglu said her 10-year-old spends hours on social media and playing games.
“It is like all the kids are social media addicts. We are already troubled by this and it gets even worse with harmful content,” Kececioglu said, as her son played a game on his phone after school.
Social media companies have warned that bans on minors risk being undermined by weak age-verification technology and could push children onto unregulated platforms.
Turkiye already regulates social media companies heavily and is quick to impose takedowns and access bans. It currently bans access to 1.2 million web pages and social media posts as of end-2024, according to a report by local censorship watchdog IFOD.
Current regulations require companies to process official or user requests within two days, leaving little room for due process, and compel operators to conform to almost all takedown requests. Social media companies that don’t conform to regulations may face advertisement bans, bandwidth reduction and fines up to 3 percent of global revenues.
Gaming platform Roblox, Discord and story-sharing site Wattpad have been banned in Turkiye since 2024. Turkiye had also banned Wikipedia for around three years.
President Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AK Party is expected to submit a draft law on the issue soon and Family and Social Services Minister Mahinur Ozdemir Goktas told reporters after a cabinet meeting last month that the bill would include a social media ban for minors and compel service providers to build content-filtering systems.
The wide-ranging recommendations in this week’s commission report also include the removal of content without notice and the monitoring of kids’ video games or toys with AI functionality for harmful content.
Australia in December became the world’s first country to ban social media for children under 16, blocking them from platforms including TikTok, Alphabet’s GOOGL.O YouTube and Meta’s META.O Instagram and Facebook.
Spain wants to prohibit social media for under-16s, while Greece and Slovenia are working on a similar ban amid mounting concerns over its impact on children’s health and safety. France, Britain and Germany are also considering restrictions for minors.
REPORT RECOMMENDS NIGHT-TIME RESTRICTIONS
The Turkish parliamentary report further recommends night-time Internet restrictions for devices used by minors under 18, mandatory content filtration on social media until aged 18 and a social media ban until aged 16.
“We need to protect our kids from moral erosion. We aim to protect our children from all types of addictions, including digital ones,” Harun Mertoglu, senior AKP lawmaker and a member of parliament’s human rights enquiry committee, told Reuters.
Some parents echo the sentiment. Shopkeeper Belma Kececioglu said her 10-year-old spends hours on social media and playing games.
“It is like all the kids are social media addicts. We are already troubled by this and it gets even worse with harmful content,” Kececioglu said, as her son played a game on his phone after school.
Social media companies have warned that bans on minors risk being undermined by weak age-verification technology and could push children onto unregulated platforms.
Turkiye already regulates social media companies heavily and is quick to impose takedowns and access bans. It currently bans access to 1.2 million web pages and social media posts as of end-2024, according to a report by local censorship watchdog IFOD.
Current regulations require companies to process official or user requests within two days, leaving little room for due process, and compel operators to conform to almost all takedown requests. Social media companies that don’t conform to regulations may face advertisement bans, bandwidth reduction and fines up to 3 percent of global revenues.
Gaming platform Roblox, Discord and story-sharing site Wattpad have been banned in Turkiye since 2024. Turkiye had also banned Wikipedia for around three years.
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