Turkey blocks Wikipedia under law designed to protect national security
Turkey has blocked Wikipedia, the
country’s telecommunications watchdog said on Saturday, citing a law that
allows it to ban access to websites deemed obscene or a threat to national
security. The move is likely to
further worry rights groups and Turkey’s western allies, who say Ankara has
curtailed freedom of speech and other basic rights in the crackdown that
followed last year’s failed
coup.
“After technical
analysis and legal consideration ... an administrative measure has been taken
for this website,” the BTK watchdog said in a statement on its website. It cited a law that
allows it to block access to individual web pages or entire sites for the
protection of public order, national security or the wellbeing of the public.
BTK is required to submit such measures to a court within 24 hours. The court
then has two days to decide whether the ban should be upheld.
A block on all
language editions of the online encyclopaedia was detected 0500 GMT on
Saturday, monitoring group Turkey
Blocks said on its website. “The loss of availability is consistent
with internet filters used to censor content in the country,” it said. When attempting to
access the webpage using Turkish internet providers, users received a notice
that the site could not be reached and a “connection timed out” error.
Monitoring groups have accused Turkey of blocking
access to social media sites such as Twitter or Facebook, particularly in the
aftermath of militant attacks.
The government has in
the past denied doing so, blaming the blackouts on spikes in usage after major
events. Technical experts at watchdog groups, however, say they are
intentional, aimed in part at stopping the spread of militant images and
propaganda. Since last year’s
failed coup, authorities have sacked or suspended more than 120,000 people from
the civil service, police and judiciary and arrested more than 40,000. The
country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said the measures were needed given
the scope of the security threat Turkey faced. Turkey jailed 81
journalists last year, more than any other country in the world, according to
the New York-based Committee to Protect
Journalists.
