Turkey Blocks, Unblocks YouTube
YouTube was blocked and unblocked again in Turkey on Tuesday, as a dispute continued over the popular video-sharing site’s refusal to remove videos deemed illegal by Turkish courts, worldwide.
Just days after a Turkish court lifted a more than two-year ban on YouTube, Turks attempting to directly access YouTube on Tuesday evening again encountered a blank screen with a message informing them that YouTube was blocked as part of a May 2008 court order. That ruling had demanded the company, a unit of Google Inc., should remove various videos considered insulting to the republic’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, worldwide.
Hours later, however, the site was accessible again. The four videos had been removed from the site two years ago. Officials at Turkey’s Telecommunications Transmission Directorate could not be reached for comment. A spokesman for Google also declined to comment. The two sides are due to meet later in the week for talks.
