Turkey Bans YouTube, Again

TURKEY BANS YOUTUBE, AGAIN
Chris Peredun

DailyTech, IL
n/article10410.htm
Jan 21 2008

Deja vu all over again

In what is becoming a bit of a recurring event, YouTube has once again
found itself banned from Turkey for having clips available that insult
the first president and founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

After a ban in March of 2007, Turkish citizens were once again free
to peruse YouTube’s collection of poorly-rendered karaoke footage
and clips of bodily harm. A court ruling in September threatened to
re-enact the ban, but it was never enforced — and the most recent
ruling passed on January 17th resulted in the current blockade.

"Insulting Turkishness" is a criminal act in Turkey, and even being
able to view the objectionable video was deemed enough to warrant a
ban on the entire site. The supposed clip in question compares Ataturk
with a monkey, and attempting to browse to the YouTube homepage from
anywhere within Turkey results in an error stating "Access to this
web site has been suspended in accordance with decision no: 2008/55
of T.R. Ankara 12th Criminal Court of Peace."

At least 65 people — including many journalists and writers — have
been charged with "insulting Turkishness" since the introduction of
the law in June of 2005. The law calls for a sentence of between six
months and three years in prison for "anyone who openly denigrates the
government, judicial institutions or military or police structures"
— or even mentioning past transgressions of the nation, such as the
Armenian massacres or Kurdish questioning.