NEW Party Bursa Deputy Hasan Öztürk presented a written parliamentary question, requesting the Minister of Justice Akın Gürlek to answer, regarding websites and accounts that direct citizens to join foreign armies with the promise of money.
Reminding that the crime of "recruiting and enlisting soldiers for foreign service" is regulated in Article 320 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK), Öztürk asked about the investigations carried out regarding these calls and why the sites are still accessible.
In his statement on the subject, Öztürk also reacted to the practices against opposition accounts and the closure of the T24 news site and said, "Is a sentence criticizing you or the public's right to receive information more dangerous than a call for soldiers to foreign armies?" he said.
In his motion, Öztürk drew attention to the allegations that Turkish citizens were directed to foreign armies with promises of money and various benefits through websites, social media accounts and messaging channels.
In the justification of the proposal, it is stated that Article 320 of the Turkish Penal Code, titled "Recruiting soldiers for foreign service, enlisting them"; It was stated that it criminalized the recruitment of soldiers from citizens or the arming of citizens within the country to work in or on behalf of foreigners or foreign states without permission of the government. It was reminded that for these acts, a prison sentence of three to six years is foreseen, and for those who accept the service specified in the first paragraph of the same article, a prison sentence of one to three years is foreseen.
In his nine questions to Minister of Justice Akın Gürlek, Öztürk asked for the number of investigations carried out, public lawsuits filed and convictions issued within the scope of TCK 320 from January 1, 2022 until the date the motion will be answered.
Asking about the actions taken against those who publish calls for participation in foreign armies, collect applications and mediate participation, Öztürk asked the following question about the publications that remain open to access:
"Why are the websites, social media accounts and messaging channels that call on Turkish citizens to join foreign armies in exchange for money or various benefits still accessible from Turkey? What evaluations have been made about these publications within the scope of Article 320 of the Turkish Penal Code? If no action has been taken to remove the content or block access, what is the legal and administrative justification for this?"
The proposal also asked how many of the requests for content removal and access blocking were accepted or rejected, which countries legal assistance was requested to identify the intermediary structures, and what kind of work was carried out between the relevant institutions. If an activity that was reported to have government permission was detected in judicial proceedings, the date, scope and legal basis of this permission were requested to be explained.
In his statement on the subject, Öztürk compared the interventions against news and accounts critical of the government with the attitude towards calls to join foreign armies:
"News that reveal the actions of figures close to the government are blocked, accounts are silenced. But sites that call on our citizens to join the armies of other countries, to die in someone else's war, can be accessed! BTK and the Ministry of Justice should answer: What do you do in the face of these calls when TCK 320 is in evidence? With what understanding of 'national security' do you close the door to citizens' access to information when the door to joining foreign armies is open?"
Öztürk said that the efforts made to block news about people close to the government are not seen against sites that call soldiers for foreign armies, and added: "For you, national security means not giving the government a headache. The country's institutions have become the reputation offices of the government!" he said.
Arguing that access barriers are used to make the mistakes and mismanagement of the government invisible, Öztürk said:
"Your concern is not what the citizen encounters on the internet, but what he learns about you! You do not want your shortcomings to be talked about, your mistakes not to be revealed, and not to be held accountable for your bad management. That's why you focus on the accounts that criticize you and the news that show your failure. You do not protect the citizens with access barriers; you are trying to protect yourself from the citizens!"
Öztürk also drew attention to other criminal activities targeting citizens over the internet; He stated that the elderly are defrauded, young people are lured into foreign armies with promises of money, children are driven into drugs and addiction, and young girls are driven into networks of abuse and exploitation.
Öztürk: “While the sites, accounts and channels that set these traps are operating, your focus is on those who criticize you!” he said.
The questions in Hasan Öztürk's motion are as follows:
1-Why are websites, social media accounts and messaging channels that call on Turkish citizens to join foreign armies in exchange for money or various benefits still accessible from Turkey? What evaluations were made about these publications within the scope of Article 320 of the Turkish Penal Code? If no action has been taken to remove the content or block access, what is the legal and administrative reason for this?
2- How many investigations were carried out and how many people were prosecuted within the scope of Article 320 of the Turkish Penal Code, from January 1, 2022 until the date the proposal was answered? What is the distribution of numbers according to years and paragraphs of the article?
3- In the same period, how many people were convicted, acquitted or decided not to prosecute within the scope of this crime? How many of the convictions have become final?
4- How many reports or applications have reached your Ministry about the sites, accounts and messaging channels that direct Turkish citizens to join foreign armies in exchange for money or various benefits over the internet? How many of these have been forwarded to the competent judicial authorities?
5- What are the statistics held by your Ministry regarding the investigations carried out against the people who publish these calls, collect applications or mediate participation? Is there a distribution of the identified activities according to the relevant foreign countries?
6- How many websites, accounts, channels or content have been requested to remove content or block access due to the activities in question; How many requests were accepted or rejected? What is the distribution of these transactions according to years and their legal basis?
7- From which countries and how many times have international legal assistance requests been made for the purpose of identifying the persons or structures carrying out these activities and providing digital evidence? How many of the requests have been finalized?
8- In the judicial proceedings carried out, has any activity been detected that has government permission specified in Article 320 of the Turkish Penal Code? If so, what are the date, scope and legal basis of these permissions without disclosing personal data?
9- Is there a work or information sharing mechanism carried out by your Ministry with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure and BTK within the scope of combating digital activities aimed at recruiting soldiers to foreign armies? If so, what are the start date, scope and concrete results achieved?
