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Turkish PM Erdoğan blocks Twitter

FenerFan

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The Turkish PM has directed the courts to issue an order to block the use of Twitter here in Turkey. This was done because of web links spread throughout the country via Twitter. The links are to sites which contain wire tapped phone conversations between Erdoğan, his family, and government leaders which are linked to recent corruption scandals. (The PM's initial reaction to the scandals was to fire or reassign thousands of police personnel involved in various investigations. Also, he changed the way in which future investigations will be directed).
I do not have a Twitter account, but trying to go to their website leads to a blue screen with a notice that access to the site has been blocked by court order.
I believe that YouTube and Facebook are the next on his hit list.
Here is a links to CNN and The Guardian for more information:
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/20/world/europe/turkey-twitter-blackout/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/21/turkey-blocks-twitter-prime-minister

As far as I know, users can still access Twitter through their phones by using normal texting to send messages via Twitter. I am not sure of the details as to how it is done.

Local elections are coming at the end of the month. I hope that voters send a clear message to the PM and his AK Party that enough is enough.
 
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What a horses arse he is. I used Twitter quite a lot as a good source of information in rapidly changing events, like the Gezi Park protests and from time to time with the missing airliner. I hope he tries to take down Facebook too. That would stir up wide discontent coming into the municipal elections.
 
Thankfully, the attempts by the PM to "eradicate" Twitter have failed miserably. Unsurprisingly, tips for circumventing the ban appeared everywhere, online and offline, within a very short time after the ban took effect. People here have been spray painting alternate DNS's in various places including, to my amusement, over AK party posters featuring Erdoğan hımself.

The hashtag #TwitterisblockedinTurkey quickly rose to the top trending term globally. According to social media agency We Are Social the number of tweets sent from Turkey went up 138% following the ban.
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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/21/turkey-twitter-users-flout-ban-erdogan

Well done people.
 
and how has he not just ended himself politically? I can't understand why the Turkish people would permit him to stay in power after this, but the little I've read so far suggests that probably isn't the case.
 
DreadNiK said:
and how has he not just ended himself politically? I can't understand why the Turkish people would permit him to stay in power after this, but the little I've read so far suggests that probably isn't the case.
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He still has his supporters and in this case some people believe that Twitter has been abused, particular as a means to organize people during the Gezi Park protests of last year, which saw widespread vandalism. The major question surrounding the PM and his party are the corruption accusations and the recent alleged telephone recordings of the PM discussing with his son how to dispose of large amounts of cash in his home before investigators arrived. People are quite polarized on this issue, with AKP supporters writing the recordings off as fake and others viewing them as legitimate.

He has lost a large section of the proportion of the conservative Muslim vote however though a dispute with the religious leader in exile Fetullah Gulen. Some sort of major falling out has occurred with the with the government apparently responding by legislating the closure of university exam preparation schools, which Gulen's movement have had a monetary and recruitment stake in. The corruption scandal is tied in here too, with the PM accusing Gulen of using his followers in the police department to stitch the government up.

In this environment there is a great deal of suspicion about the government as we head into nationwide municipal elections which are dominated by party politics. I have heard a number of people discussing the possibility of the integrity of the results being called into question, and that this may happen no matter how things pan out. I imagine that the government would rather not have Twitter operating in such a situation where discontent and rumour can spread like wildfire.

Turks have lived with internet bans and are very familiar with the ways to circumvent them, learnt particularly in the years YouTube was blocked. At the time the PM was caught out as a YouTube user when he cited a video he had seen to journalists. One of the president's first actions in this current block was to Tweet his dissatisfaction on the matter, presumably by a VPN or foreign DNS.
 
Here is an article that gives a good overview of the context for the block, along with a number of links that provide greater detail.

Q&A: Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan's troubles

Turkey has blocked the social networking site Twitter following Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's vow to "wipe out" the service.

He has frequently expressed his dislike of social media sites - including YouTube and Facebook - believing they are being used to attack him.

However, the Twitter ban has drawn widespread criticism, including from Turkish President Abdullah Gul who tweeted his disagreement.

But Mr Erdogan's troubles go far beyond social media. He is also facing allegations of corruption and is embroiled in a feud with a former ally.

Here's a look at some of the battles he is currently fighting.​

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26680033
 
In other news, the zombie apocalypse kicked off today when the dead body of Mustafa Kamal Ataturk burst from its grave and proceeded to bite Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan about the neck and shoulders.
 
And there we go. Just this moment YouTube is down with the usual Telecommunication Authority message.

FFS
 
He's really running amok, isn't he? Did you get the context of the Syrian plane that was shot down? Absolutely blatant support of the worst kind of "rebels" imaginable, again. Fortunately NATO told him to get lost this time when he came whining, despite him "threatening" the Russians with refusal of Navy passage... :rolleyes:
 
Sideroxylon said:
Cheers I understand that this is to do with an allegedly leaked recording about Syria.
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I wasn't even aware of that. Was referring to the general context of the attack on the Armenians of Kessab as described in the link above.

Wow. Just wow. Translations seem to be still in progress, but apparently the smirking little Dwarfutoglu was caught red-handed planning a false flag attack to start a war with Syria, according to him with the blessing of John Kerry and Erdogan. And the latter has no better idea than to block Youtube over it. :boggled:
 
More on the leak tape that led to YouTube being blocked:

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/tu...-leak.aspx?pageID=238&nID=64232&NewsCatID=338

Interesting that I haven't found denials of the content just more blaming the "parallel state" of preacher in exile Fetullah Gullen.

Zaman, a paper with ties to Gullens movement, has a bit to say on the content:
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-343...s-to-be-hero-with-turkish-soldiers-blood.html

A contradictory feature of the secular state of Turkey is the Presidency of Religious AffairsWP which among other things provides a canned sermon for imams around the country for each Friday prayer. Yesterday prayer goers were given lecture of freedoms and responsibility.
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-343...ports-blocking-of-social-media-platforms.html


And Twitter has won a case against their ban in a Turkish court. This does not mean we have Twitter back yet however.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/tw...nment.aspx?pageID=238&nID=64273&NewsCatID=339


I'm a little apprehensive about going downtown on election day.
 
Here's one more reflection of all this making the rounds on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/_nasdaf_/status/449688663354785793

What was said vs. what was sold, by allied corporate media. Plans to use a fake al-Qaeda attack to justify direct war with Syria = "taking the threat of radical groups in Syria seriously," says the Wall Street Journal. You can't make this **** up. And that's not to mention, except I am now, Turkey is the #1 importer to Syria of these same Islamist scumbags they now want to save the world from.

Further evidence of the Muslim Brotherhood is a deranged menace to world peace.
 
Well it's late afternoon with the nation-wide municipal elections set for tomorrow. If there is a scandalous video out there they are running out of time to affect the outcome with its release.

In the CNN Türk interview with Samyeli via your first link she strongly writes the story off as ugly, hurtful gossip.
 
And Turks go off to the polls, commenting and following the action on Twitter thanks to various VPN systems.

On the subject of sex tapes, a former leader of the opposition who was forced to resign when one he was in began to circulate has spoken out on leaked audio of the PM where he tells his people to release it.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/pm...-says.aspx?pageID=238&nID=64270&NewsCatID=338

The local Bar Association has filed a case against the YT ban.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/an...lock-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=64242&NewsCatID=339

A lot of extra security is being put on for these polls. Hope things don't get ugly in town.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ex...polls.aspx?pageID=238&nID=64279&NewsCatID=338
 
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Caustic Logic said:
What was said vs. what was sold, by allied corporate media. Plans to use a fake al-Qaeda attack to justify direct war with Syria = "taking the threat of radical groups in Syria seriously," says the Wall Street Journal. You can't make this **** up.
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Yeah the apparent media whitewash of this leak is astounding. Apparently when he banned the media from discussing the leak, western media felt obliged to obey him too?
 
This is all very frustrating:

Turkey hijacks servers in social media crackdown
Turkey has started hijacking net addresses as it steps up attempts to block access to social media.

Addresses belonging to Google, Level 3 and OpenDNS have all been hijacked by order of the Turkish government.

The hijack means that people using those addresses to reach Twitter or YouTube can no longer get through.

Net monitoring firms said the hijack was "concerning" and would let the government log who was trying to get round its controls.​

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-26818104
 
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