Türkiye reinstated access to Instagram on Saturday night, after more than a week of being blocked nationwide.
The Information and Communication Technologies Authority barred access to Instagram on Aug. 2 without providing a specific reason.
A top Turkish official had accused Instagram of blocking condolence posts over the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Türkiye has denounced Israel's attacks on Gaza, called for an immediate ceasefire and criticized what it calls unconditional support for Israel by the West.
Government officials later said the ban was imposed because the social media platform failed to abide by Turkish laws.
“In our talks with Instagram officials, we were assured our requests would be met, especially those regarding criminal activity, and given a promise that we would work together on a means of censoring users,” Abdulkadir Uraloglu, Türkiye's transportation and infrastructure minister wrote on the social media platform X Saturday.
Uraloglu elaborated in a video also posted on X, saying that the platform “was to establish compliance with Turkish law and that in instances where the law was violated, there would be quick and effective intervention.”
He added that all accounts owned by “terrorist” organizations would be banned and all content promoting such organizations would be removed, singling out the PKK, PYD and FETO.
