TURKEY’S PRIME MINISTER TAKES ON TWITTER In a bold move aimed at shutting own criticism of his government, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has confirmed that he gave the orders to shut down Twitter in Turkey. At a campaign event in Istanbul which was held Sunday ahead of the scheduled March 30th municipal elections, Erdogan said he had given the order because Twitter was not obeying Turkeys laws. Previously, the Turkish government claimed that the telecommunications authority had blocked Twitter on court orders. However, the move came shortly after Erdogan vowed to rip out the roots of the website. Erdogan said Twitter was applying double standards, shutting down accounts when the U.S. or the U.K demand it, but defending freedom when Turkey, Ukraine or Egypt have concerns. Despite the blockage, many in Turkey are finding ways to continue to tweet. Turkeys government on Saturday accused Twitter of allowing systematic character assassinations a day after social media users easily evaded a government attempt to block access to the network. The attempted crackdown came after links to wiretapped recordings suggesting corruption were posted on Twitter, causing Prime Minister Erdogans government major embarrassment before the elections. In one recording a man believed to be Erdogan is heard instructing his son to get rid of vast amounts of cash from a home amid a police graft probe. Erdogan says that recording is fabricated and insists he is a victim of a plot orchestrated by followers of a U.S.-based Muslim cleric who want to discredit the government before the elections. The governments effort to shut down the service backfired on Friday, with many finding ways to continue to tweet and mock the government for what they said was a futile attempt at censorship. Even President Abdullah Gul worked around the ban, tweeting that shutting down social media networks cannot be approved. Turkeys move to block Twitter sparked a wave of international criticism. On Saturday Turkey began to close down accounts which the Turkish government has been complaining about, but the report couldnt immediately be verified. Government officials said Friday they were engaged in talks with Twitter and would restore access as soon as an agreement with the company is reached. Twitter said it hoped the dispute would be resolved soon. The government accuses Twitter of refusing to remove offensive content despite Turkish court orders. On Saturday the clampdown was expanded to Googles Domain Name System, which had provided many of Twitters Turkish users an alternative means of gaining entry. A statement from the Turkish governments Public Diplomacy office said the network was engaged in systematic character assassinations for hosting accounts where the leaked the wiretapped recordings have been posted. It said the audio tapes were illegally acquired or fake and fabricated. Elvan, the communications minister, said: Whether its Twitter, Yahoo or Google, all social media companies have to obey the laws of the Turkish Republic and they will. Turkey had made 643 content removal requests to Twitter since January 1st without explanation.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 13:07:27 +0000
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