Erdogan Declares He is 'Increasingly against Internet'

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, known for his suspicion of new technology, declared he was "increasingly against the Internet every day" as he defended curbs on online freedoms, a journalists' rights group who met him said Friday.

However the presidency denied Erdogan was "anti-Internet", saying that he just wanted to raise the alarm over the use of the Internet by extremists.

Erdogan made the comments in a meeting with activists from rights groups The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and International Press Institute (IPI) in Ankara on Thursday, the CPJ said. 

The meeting came after Turkey's constitutional court on Thursday overturned new amendments to a controversial law that granted the country's telecoms authority more powers to monitor online users and block websites.

Erdogan justified stepping up controls on online speech by saying that extremist organizations, including the Islamic State (IS) jihadists who have seized swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq, were using the Internet to recruit followers. 

"I am increasingly against the Internet every day," Erdogan said, according to a statement released by the U.S.-based CPJ on Friday. 

His government temporarily blocked Twitter and YouTube in March after they were used to spread audio recordings implicating Erdogan and his inner circle in a corruption scandal.

Turkey has been declared the world's number one jailer of journalists for two years in a row by the CPJ, ahead of Iran and China, and in May the watchdog Freedom House said its press can no longer be considered free.

However Erdogan's press adviser Lutfullah Goktas denied the president had said he was against the Internet. 

"He just sought to draw attention to the fact that social media could be used as a propaganda tool by IS and similar organizations," Goktas was quoted as saying by state-run Anatolia news agency. 

"Then he emphasized that this was a worrying trend and he was increasingly concerned about it. So it has nothing to do with being 'anti-Internet'." 

The CPJ voiced concern at the meeting over the increasingly repressive atmosphere for journalists in the country.

According to the CPJ, Erdogan brushed off the criticism and said: "The media should never have been given the liberty to insult." 

The activists met separately with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who said he was ready to protect any journalists who come under threat. 

"Although we disagree with government leaders on the role of news media, we are encouraged by their willingness to meet with us," the CPJ said. 

The changes overturned by the constitutional court had come on top of a law in February that significantly tightened state control over the Internet, sparking outrage both at home and abroad.

Erdogan, who was elected president last month after ruling Turkey as premier for over a decade, has long scorned social media which played a major role in anti-government protests in 2013, comparing the likes of Twitter to a "knife in the hand of a murderer."