The government of Turkey was under pressure on April 3, 2014 to implement a top order from the court to stop blocking social networking and micro-blogging site Twitter. The site had been banned in the country following corruption claims which went viral on the popular site.
The Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked the site to be blocked on March 20, 2014, before last week’s important local elections, during which Erdogan’s party won regardless of the damaging online leaks. The country’s Constitutional Court ruled on April 3, 2014 that the Twitter ban interfered with free speech. The telecoms authority, as well as the communications ministry have ordered to reverse it immediately.
The microblogging service was fast enough to respond to the ruling and said, “We welcome this Constitutional Court ruling and hope to have Twitter access restored in Turkey soon.” Despite the fact that the country’s highest court’s ruling was published on April 3, 2014 in the Official Gazatte in Turkey, by mid-morning the service remained unavailable in the country.
Sezgin Tanrikulu – who was part of the group which lodged the initial challenge with the Constitutional Court – said that the ruling is binding for everyone, which includes the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who does not recognize the law. One of the users of the site said that the bans must be reversed.
Photo Credits: MSHCDN
