Turkish court to reinstate ban on YouTube due to offensive content

Earlier the court had banned YouTube in May 2008 for the content that was deemed insulting to the founder of the country Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Google did remove the controversial content from its site but only in Turkey.

Transport Minister Binali Yildrim had welcomed court’s verdict to lift the ban few days ago in a press statement, "Ever since the insulting content was removed, there is no reason to continue the ban.

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."

However, joy was short lived as YouTube recently reposted the content that is accessible from outside the country stating that it does not violate the copyright policies.

No comments
When contacted for a comment on the ongoing issue, Google spokesman Scott Rubin in Turkey refused to talk about the verdict, saying that his information on the matter is limited.

Court had banned YouTube in May 2008 for the content that was deemed insulting to the founder of the country Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Google did remove the controversial content from its site but only in Turkey.

Even Turkey's Telecommunications Transmission Directorate, which have been given the task to implement and monitor the ban, refused to comment.

How it started?
The whole controversy over YouTube’s content started back in 2008 when due to some video content posted on the site that was deemed highly insulting to the country’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

In Turkey, it is a crime to insult Ataturk, the founder who found Turkey in 1923 after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, hence the ban.

Government demanded complete removal of content from the site. Google did comply with the order but refused to do the same on worldwide scale.

YouTube not alone
Interestingly, Google’s YouTube is not the first or the only website banned due to illegal content in Turkey.

The move to block sites started in 2007 when parliament adopted a law to curb cyber crimes such as child porn, prevent the dissemination of terrorist propaganda and stamp out illegal gambling.

Till then over 8,000 websites that have been banned. Majority of these sites are banned as they are connected with pornography and online gambling.

Some sites are banned as they are pro-Kurdish news agencies and several of them are social networking sites.