Turkey lifts YouTube ban after more than 2 years

[Speederlander]

Turkey lifts YouTube ban after more than 2 years

Turkey said Saturday that it was lifting a ban on YouTube more than two years after it blocked access to the site because of videos deemed insulting to the country's founder.

Transport Minister Binali Yildirim, who is in charge of Internet issues, said the government has been in touch with Google, which owns YouTube. There was no longer any reason to ban the video-sharing site, he said, as the offending videos had been removed.

"In the end, common sense prevailed. The reasons for the YouTube ban do not exist anymore," Yildirim said.

"The ban has been removed," Yildirim said on NTV television. "But we didn't get here easily, we have been through a lot in the process. I hope that they have also learned from this experience and the same thing will not happen again. YouTube will hopefully carry out its organization in Turkey within the limits of law in the future."

Turkey's telecommunications authority banned access to YouTube in May 2008 after users complained that some videos insulted Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who founded the country in 1923. It is a crime in Turkey to insult Ataturk. The country has implemented reforms as part of a bid to join the European Union, but still faces questions about its record on free expression.

The country began blocking access to websites in 2007, after parliament adopted a law against cyber crime in an effort to curb child :banana::banana::banana::banana:, prevent the dissemination of terrorist propaganda and stamp out illegal gambling.

More than 6,000 sites have been banned in Turkey according to Engelli Web, a site that monitors blocked pages.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_turkey_youtube

[blindbox]

In before political talk.

[biohead]

republicans vs democrats

[adilazimdegilx]

Yep. It's already a big mistake because on internet, always there are unwelcome things. Now, if you look facebook or another social networking site, you ll see that they must ban, too. Ban is not a solution.

[ripken204]

oh god, the thought of youtube being banned is horrible.
how could these people have gone on like that

[SamHughe]

who cares about turkey except for on thanksgiving?

and who cares about the country even ON thanksgiving?

Why are you trolling and flamebaiting? We have several active members from Turkey here. It's a good news for free speech no matter where are you from. If you don't care, just don't post.

[Sn0wm@n]

i hope they wont search youtube for lesbian kissing action video clip at least

[SoulsCollective]

Why are you trolling and flamebaiting? We have several active members from Turkey here. It's a good news for free speech no matter where are you from. If you don't care, just don't post.

Most likely intended as a joke, but in very poor taste.

[Mad Pistol]

"They may ban our youtube, but they'll NEVER ban our.... wait... ! they just banned youtube!!!!

[Dainas]

Why are you trolling and flamebaiting? We have several active members from Turkey here. It's a good news for free speech no matter where are you from. If you don't care, just don't post.

Amen, besides jokes like that only ever betray an idiotic ignorance. The youtube thing with Turkey was pretty depressing, and idiot stunts like this is whats eating at its secular heart. Atatürk used some pretty heavy handed tactics to keep his country from fragmenting back into the religious dark ages, but I would never believe that he would approve the blocking of such a widespread international medium just because some pranksters posted some insulting videos to get a rise out of turkey.

[eric66]

i seriously loled banning whole site cause of some video really shows difference between civilized countries and others

[OutSider]

You just dont realise how important Ataturk is for them.

[lkiller123]

who cares about turkey except for on thanksgiving?

and who cares about the country even ON thanksgiving?

I like how this is not about Turkey but YouTube...

Therefore I will pretend as if your point is still valid

[randomizer]

i seriously loled banning whole site cause of some video really shows difference between civilized countries and others

Mmm... not really, no.

[Aten-Ra]

I haven’t seen the video so I can’t comment

[DosDuoNo]

I haven’t seen the video so I can’t comment

but you just did, are we allways this clever?



to be fair here, not one post has spoken about the video itself or its content,

stating in a song that someone who is dear to the turkish hearts is a raging homosexual and is the reaon that all turkish men are closet homosexuals, is a pretty heavy accusation if you ask me, and i can totaly understand why the site was banned.

not to imply that homosexuals are in any way wrong, or indeed any real part of this, just prurely in the way people are being accused of something they are not. seems a bit like bullying to me.

>>>>>>DosDuoNo treads carefully over eggshells not to upset anybody here>>>lol

[Aten-Ra]

Are we always trying to be a smart ass ??

I can’t comment about the f..king ban when I haven’t seen the video

Question

If someone posted a video implying the same thing about George Washington or Abraham Lincoln or Franklin D. Roosevelt, would USA ban Youtube??

[generics_user]

Are we always trying to be a smart ass ??

I can’t comment about the f..king ban when I haven’t seen the video

Question

If someone posted a video implying the same thing about George Washington or Abraham Lincoln or Franklin D. Roosevelt, would USA ban Youtube??

no because none of them is as important to the americans as ataturk is to the turkish people...

and i think that this has nothing to do with youtube itself; it's more about foreign politics and the possible source of this video

[kuroikenshi]

i hope they wont search youtube for lesbian kissing action video clip at least

hopefully they wont search for this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3U2mipXJ1Q

[hurrdurr]

If any party in Turkey lifted the part in the constitution which makes it illegal to insult Ataturk, they would be immediately gang raped by the army. Such laws make the country look like North Korea, but given the military's involvement, the country is actually like North Korea.

[OutSider]

Go learn more about them befora saying such things you compare country which is fast growing and part of G20 and country where during World Cup they aired just 1 of the games of their national soccer team.

[zalbard]

And they really think they are good enough to join EU after such things?
Good move, but come on, 2 years?..

[K404]

Day 0, hour 0, minute 0:

Turkey lifts Youtube ban.


Day 0, Hour zero, minute 1:

Turkey reports 98% drop in employee productivity

[Speederlander]

stating in a song that someone who is dear to the turkish hearts is a raging homosexual and is the reaon that all turkish men are closet homosexuals, is a pretty heavy accusation if you ask me, and i can totaly understand why the site was banned.

So that's sufficient to ban a site? Accusations about a historical figure long dead? Where does that line then get drawn? Anything deemed critical in any way (including satire) of anything the government considers "untouchable" gets the information blocked from the public?

[QuadDamage]

So that's sufficient to ban a site? Accusations about a historical figure long dead? Where does that line then get drawn? Anything deemed critical in any way (including satire) of anything the government considers "untouchable" gets the information blocked from the public?

I think it's pretty freakin ridiculous if you ask me.