The telecommunications regulator does not implement the court decision
Turkish authorities have defied court orders and confirmed a YouTube ban imposed after the publication of illegal recordings of top-secret security conversations, which Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said are part of a "dirty campaign" to overthrow him.
Authorities imposed the YouTube ban on March 27, ahead of local elections, after weeks of leaked online audio recordings purportedly exposing corruption in Erdogan's inner circle. However, Erdogan's popularity remained largely intact in the election.
The Turkish Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (BTK) announced today that it will not end the YouTube block, despite court rulings to lift the ban.
"The measure of blocking access to the YouTube website remains in force," BTK said in a statement published on its website.
Access to Twitter was also blocked until the Constitutional Court ruled last week that the blocking violated the law.
Last Friday, a lower court in Ankara ruled that the YouTube ban violated human rights and ordered most of the restrictions to be lifted, citing the Constitutional Court's ruling. In place of those restrictions, it blocked access to 15 specific videos.
Despite a prosecutor's appeal against the lifting of the ban, which was filed on state security grounds, a higher court in Ankara ruled on Wednesday in favor of lifting the general ban on YouTube.
However, BTK announced that, while some of the offending links have been removed, access to others has been blocked only in Turkey and can be viewed abroad.
The Turkish telecommunications authority added that the ban will remain in place "because some of the mentioned content continues to be available on the website.".
Source: newsbeast.gr
