Turkish court lifts YouTube ban
By Alisa Zykova, Tuesday 26 August 2008 at 18:50 :: Press Freedom & Laws :: #2170 :: rss
A Turkish court has lifted a ban on the video-sharing Web site YouTube, after numerous sites blocked themselves to protest “growing” Web censorship, the Guardian reported.
YouTube was blocked in May, following the release of video content that allegedly insulted Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who founded the modern Turkish state.
Last week, 412 Web sites and blogs protested after discovering that 853 Turkish sites were blocked through a court order.
The message “The access to this Web site is prevented by court order,” appeared on banned sites. Meanwhile, protesting Web sites carried the message “The access to this site is denied by its own decision,” according to the Guardian.
Article 5651 of Turkey’s penal code dictates that sites can be blocked if they insult Atatürk, feature child pornography or promote suicide.
However reasonable the last two restrictions seem, banning YouTube may have worsened Turkey’s image in the eyes of the European Union, the Guardian article states. YouTube was first banned in March 2007 after Greek users uploaded videos that suggested that Atatürk was homosexual.
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