Turkish government lifts ban on YouTube

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Thursday, June 5, 2014

The Turkish government removed its block of YouTube on Tuesday following a ruling by Turkey's Constitutional Court found the ban violated freedom of speech.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Image: Government of Chile.

The popular video sharing website was banned along with social media platform Twitter after leakage though the services in March of audio recordings of government meetings. The Turkish telecommunications regulator called it a "precautionary administrative measure".

The recordings, whose release Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called treasonous, presented military discussions of Turkish intervention in Syria. Other leaked recordings presented alleged corruption among close associates of Mr Erdogan.

Twitter was unblocked in April but lower court rulings against the YouTube block were not acted on.

Turkey had also blocked access to YouTube from 2007 to 2010.


Sources