Turkey’s largest internet services provider shut down access to the YouTube video-sharing web site earlier this month after a court ruling that some of its content insulted Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey. The decision followed days of furious insult-sharing among Turkish and Greek users of the popular and controversial site.
The result was a flood of complaints to the site and to the media from Turkish users angered by what one newspaper said were “fanatic Greeks broadcasting videos” insulting Ataturk.
A message posted on the site the next day said access had been suspended following a decision by an Istanbul court. One video posted on the site allegedly claimed that Ataturk and Turks were ‘homosexuals’. Ataturk, who died in 1938, is a revered figure in Turkey and it is a crime to ‘insult’ him or state institutions. Many writers, including the Nobel literature laureate Orhan Pamuk, have faced trial for works that allegedly breach this law.
Paul Doany, chief executive of Turk Telekom, said the company had received a faxed copy of the court’s decision and that YouTube’s services have been suspended in Turkey in accordance with this decision, he said. Two days later, access to the site was restored after YouTube agreed to remove the offending video.
Losers? Freedom of speech, of course; YouTube, who proved yet again what little backbone they have; and Turkey, who is that much further away from being accepted into the EU.
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