Authorities have blocked access to dozens of news reports and 194 X accounts covering an ongoing financial investigation involving investment and portfolio management companies, according to the Freedom of Expression Association (İFÖD), a group monitoring internet censorship in Turkey.
Reports examining links between some investment and portfolio management companies, their shareholders and public figures had been blocked.
On Sep 17, the Capital Markets Board (SPK) placed 131 funds managed by Tera, Pusula, Hedef, Atlas, A1 Portföy, Pardus and Bulls Portföy into liquidation and restricted transactions.
Data from the Central Securities Depository (MKK) showed that 455,758 individual investors held assets in those funds.
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The restrictions were imposed under Article 8/A of the Internet Law No 5651, which allows allows the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) to impose access restrictions in urgent cases, upon requests from ministries or the Presidency, for purposes including protecting life, property, national security and public order. Such decisions are submitted for judicial approval after their implementation.
The measures followed earlier restrictions on social media accounts discussing the same financial developments. İFÖD reported on Sep 22 that the BTK and courts had ordered access restrictions on numerous X accounts over allegations that they had published content intended to fuel speculation.
The 194 affected accounts in the initial wave included economists Uğur Gürses and Veysel Ulusoy, former Treasury undersecretary Bilge Yılmaz, and journalists Naz Yavuzarslan and Dinçer Gökçe. İFÖD estimated that the accounts had about 12 million followers combined.
Notably, the measures did not specifically target the content related to the investment fund crisis and entire accounts have been made inaccessible from Turkey.
Censored news articles
Coverage of the companies has also focused on their ownership and management structures. An investigation by the T24 news site based on corporate records found that boards of holding companies behind some of the fund managers included publicly known figures such as a university rector, a former ambassador and the spouse of a former deputy minister.
Gazete Pencere, citing its calculations based on fund data, reported that 15,964 investors redeemed more than 132 billion liras in fund shares during a period that began about two weeks before the liquidation decision. The timing prompted questions over whether some transactions may have involved insider information.
BIA Media Monitoring Reports
13 December 2024
Anadolu Agency removes own reports
The state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) has removed access to several articles it previously published about Tera Holding and its chair, Emre Tezmen.
Links to the articles now display a “Content not found” message on the agency’s website, although their headlines and AA links remain visible in Google search results.
The inaccessible articles included reports stating that Tera Yatırım recorded a net profit of 20.19 billion liras in the first quarter of 2026, marked its 20th anniversary and became the largest shareholder in Pera Yatırım Holding through an investment by Tera Group.
Other removed reports covered Tezmen’s meeting with Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo in Helsinki and his appeal to international investors regarding Turkey.
Tera executives have been arrested on multiple accusations as part of the proceedings.
(AEK/VK)
Source: BIANET
