Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently blocked access to Twitter by court order, sparking strong reaction from the international community.
Twitter announced a few days ago a simple measure to bypass the block via text messaging and posted the following message, expressing its support for the 10 million users in Turkey:
"We stand with our users in Turkey who rely on Twitter for their communications. We hope they will have full access very soon."
The European Union has already responded to the issue, through Commissioner Neelie Kroes, who is responsible for the Digital Agenda: “The Turkish people and the international community will see this move as censorship. It is”, she said.
The White House also took a stance, criticizing the Turkish prime minister's move:
“We are opposed to the restriction of Turkish citizens' access to information, a fact that undermines the rights of freedom of expression and association and is contrary to the principles of open governance, which is of critical importance for democratic governance and universal rights”.
The US also urged Turkish authorities to respect press freedom, allowing independent and unrestricted operation of media of all kinds and to support citizens in their effort to restore full access to Twitter.
