IS TURKEY READY FOR THE WEST?

9 March 2007

YouTube blockade raises questions on Turkish officialdom's attitude to free expression

The news this week that Turkey, an applicant for membership of the European Union, has decreed that the YouTube website be blocked to Turkish Internet users again raises the question of whether the government is ready for the freedom of expression that characterises Western nations.

Hard on the heels of attempts to stifle online gambling activities in the country, a Turkish court has ordered access to YouTube's Web site blocked because of videos on the free-to-post site allegedly insulting the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Paul Doany, head of Turk Telekom, Turkey's largest telecommunications provider, said his company had immediately begun enforcing the ban.

"We are not in the position of saying that what YouTube did was an insult, that it was right or wrong," Doany said in a statement to the state-run Anatolia news agency. "A court decision was proposed to us, and we are doing what that court decision says."

Visitors to the YouTube site from Turkey were greeted with the message: "Access to this site has been blocked by a court decision!"

The vast majority of Turkish Internet users use Turk Telekom, a state-run monopoly until it was privatised in 2005.

A message in both Turkish and English at the bottom of the page said, "Access to the http://www.youtube.com site has been suspended in accordance with decision no: 2007/384 dated 06.03.2007 of Istanbul First Criminal Peace Court."

The court - acting on a petition from Turk Telekom - ruled later that it would revoke the ban as soon as it ascertained that the offending videos had been removed from YouTube. YouTube is owned by internet search engine giant Google.

Earlier, Doany said Turk Telekom would allow access to the popular video sharing site again if the court decision were rescinded. Access from Turkey might be possible through other service providers, he said.

Over the past week, Turkish media publicised what some called a "virtual war" between Greeks and Turks on YouTube, with people from both sides posting videos to belittle and berate the other.

The video prompting the ban allegedly said Ataturk and the Turkish people were homosexuals, news reports said.

On its front page on Wednesday, the newspaper Hurriyet said thousands of people had written to YouTube and that the Ataturk videos had been removed from the site. "YouTube got the message," the headline said.

*Insulting Ataturk or "Turkishness" is a crime in Turkey punishable by prison.*

Turkey, which hopes to join the European Union, has been roundly condemned for not doing enough to curb extreme nationalist sentiments and to protect freedom of expression.

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