Turkey's Constitutional Court has ruled (lately but successfully) that the country's ban Twitter violates freedom of speech, as well as individual rights.
Several weeks ago, Turkish authorities banned access to Twitter ahead of local elections after leaks emerged from the service exposing the Turkish prime minister. Since then, access to Twitter, and later YouTube , has remained restricted.
The Constitutional Court ruled today that the blockades violate basic human rights such as freedom of expression. The verdict has already been sent by the court to Turkey's telecommunications authority, as well as the Ministry of Transport, which is responsible for the country's communications.
In theory, at least, this decision should lead to the immediate lifting of the ban. During the hearing of the case, several people were present who challenged the ban, including opposition leaders and Karem Altıparmak, a well-known legal academic.
Altıparmak said that many people in Turkey have taken steps to bypass the Twitter ban, using VPN tools or changing their DNS addresses, for example.
He also pointed out that immediately after the ban, Turkish citizens began sharing their knowledge on how to use Google DNS. In Istanbul, instructions are even graffitied on walls.
