Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has released a written statement on its official website in which it harshly criticizes Turkey for granting the Telecommunications Directorate (TİB) extensive powers over Internet use — such as the power to block access to websites without a court order — with new amendments recently made to the country’s Internet law.

The RSF stated that Turkey’s Parliament “passed two last-minute amendments expanding the grounds under which [TİB] can temporarily block websites without a court order, and allowing it to gather Internet user connection data independently of any ongoing investigation.”

“Coming just after the end of the Internet Governance Forum [IGF] in İstanbul [last week], the amendments showed that the Turkish authorities are ready to go even further down the road of Internet censorship,” the RSF statement continued.

TİB has already been able to order the “preventive blocking” of websites since February in cases of “attacks on privacy” or “discriminatory or insulting” content. Under the most recent amendments, it can now also block sites in case of a perceived attack on “national security,” to “protect public order” or to “prevent a crime from being committed.”

“Blocking a website, even for 48 hours, without referring to a court violates the principle of the separation of powers as well as freedom of information,” the RSF statement reported Johann Bihr, the head of the RSF Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk, as saying.

“By increasing the possibility of blocking sites in this way, the authorities are yet again reaffirming their determination to control the Internet. Online resources play a key role in informing the Turkish public, one that is all the more important because harassment of the traditional media is being stepped up. We urge President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan not to sign these amendments into law,” Bihr said.