Turkey court orders end of YouTube ban, echoing Twitter ruling
- 10 years ago
A Turkish court has ordered a blanket ban on YouTube to be lifted, citing another ruling this week that scrapped a similar ban on Twitter.
The court in Ankara said the restrictions violated human rights.
The prime minister has criticised the earlier ruling on Twitter by the Constitutional Court.
Tayyip Recep Erdogan said although he did not respect the decision the government would comply.
There was approval for the ruling on the streets of Istanbul.
“I think now we are back on the right path. The court’s decision opens the way towards freedom… What happened with the ban cast shame on our democracy,” said one man.
“The government created a dangerously authoritarian precedent. It would have sought to resort to such tactics whenever it needed to. In democracies these practices are not handed to governments. They’re against democracy,” added another.
Unlike with Twitter, the YouTube ruling came from a lower court. Some restrictions remain: fifteen videos uploaded to the site are still blocked.
Euronews correspondent in Istanbul Bora Bayraktar said: “With the removal of the ban on Twitter and YouTube, the tension in the country has cooled down. But it seems that Turkey will debate this matter for a long time.”
The court in Ankara said the restrictions violated human rights.
The prime minister has criticised the earlier ruling on Twitter by the Constitutional Court.
Tayyip Recep Erdogan said although he did not respect the decision the government would comply.
There was approval for the ruling on the streets of Istanbul.
“I think now we are back on the right path. The court’s decision opens the way towards freedom… What happened with the ban cast shame on our democracy,” said one man.
“The government created a dangerously authoritarian precedent. It would have sought to resort to such tactics whenever it needed to. In democracies these practices are not handed to governments. They’re against democracy,” added another.
Unlike with Twitter, the YouTube ruling came from a lower court. Some restrictions remain: fifteen videos uploaded to the site are still blocked.
Euronews correspondent in Istanbul Bora Bayraktar said: “With the removal of the ban on Twitter and YouTube, the tension in the country has cooled down. But it seems that Turkey will debate this matter for a long time.”