Twitter Ban in Turkey Lifted By Court Order
A Turkish court has ruled that the recent ban on Twitter imposed by the Turkish government is unlawful and against freedom of expression. As a result, the court in the Turkish capital of Ankara has lifted the statewide ban that was put in place about a week ago. The ban was enacted by Turkey's telecommunications authority after conversations and other information was leaked onto Twitter allegedly exposing corruption amongst government officials and individuals associated with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Although lots of people in Turkey have been bypassing the ban by accessing Twitter using some technical workarounds, the fact that the government would take steps to ban the use of one of the world's most popular social networking sites has led to a public outroar as citizens express their concerns that the current ruling party is encroaching on their right to enjoy freedom of speech and information.
The ban was originally enacted on the grounds that Twitter itself was violating personal privacy by allowing its users to share private conversations. Pr Minister Erdogan has stated that the leaked information was actually fabricated by political opponents as a heated election is quickly approaching.
Twitter was in firm opposition of the ban from day one, stating that the action was unnecessary and illegal, especially after the site apparently made an effort to address the Turkish government's complaints.
Legal advisors have stated that the government will have the opportunity to appeal the lifting of the ban' but the general consensus is that it would wiser to stop pursuing a ban on Twitter altogether. The Justice Ministry has issued a statement saying that the telecommunications authority has thirty days to lift the ban, and that the regional administrative court will have the final word in the case.
The Turkish Constitutional Court was expected to rule on separate complaints about the Twitter ban brought forth by two academic experts in the field of cyberlaw - Kerem Altiparmak of Ankara University and Yaman Akdeniz of Bilgi University. The two men agreed with the Anakar court's ruling and have stated that they expected the Constitutional Court to give a similar ruling.
Meanwhile, Mr.Erdogan continues to speak out against Twitter and has stated that the ban will remain in place until Twitter takes action to remove content from the site based on previous local court rulings. However, the staff at Twitter insists that they've already comply with the requests by suspending two accounts and blocking a third account from being viewed by Turkish users.
Mr. Erdogan has also publicly criticized YouTube for hosting videos of leaked phone conversations and video clips. Apparently he is accusing Twitter of being associated with YouTube because Twitter has hired the same law firm that helped YouTube in a case against Turkish authorities back in 2008. Of course, his apparent dislike for YouTube and public threats to "wipe out" and "eradicate" Twitter are only serving to decrease his popularity and political respect, as very few people are happy about not being able to use their Twitter account.
