A Turkish court has ordered local ISPs to block access to the Youtube video sharing service in response to the publication of a video that mocked the nation's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
The video displayed pictures of the founding father of the modern Turkish with insults written over it in English.
Youtube has since removed the video and the ban on the website has reportedly been lifted. It's unclear when access to Youtube will be restored.
The video was reportedly uploaded by an ethnic Greek from Cyprus. Turkey and Greece have been battling each other over control of the island. Turkey in 1974 invaded the territory and created the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus that is only recognized by Turkey.
Turkey has an uneasy relation with freedom of speech. The nation's penal code makes it a crime to insult "Turkishness". Courts routinely press charges against writers and journalists for mentioning the Armenian genocide of 1915-1917. Turkey denies that a coordinated ethnic cleansing ever occurred and blames the deaths on collateral war and natural circumstances.
Turkey shoots down Youtube over insulting video
By
Tom Sanders
on Mar 8, 2007 8:32AM
