Turkey's longstanding çoktandır devam eden ban yasak on YouTube, the world's largest and most popular video-sharing website, was lifted kaldırmak Saturday by an Ankara court following takiben the removal of controversial tartışmalı videos from the service.
Public halk access to the website was banned by a court decision nearly two and a half years ago over üzerine videos insulting hakaret Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the modern Turkish Republic, something that is illegal in Turkey.Removal kaldırma of the videos cleared the way for Turkish users to reaccess the website legally yasal olarak, Yıldırım said.
A German-based merkezli international licensing service owned by a Turkish citizen bought the right to remove the disputed tartışmalı videos from YouTube and announced Friday that they were no longe viewable on the site. Following this development, the court in Ankara acted immediately to allow access to YouTube.
The ban on the site had sparked harekete geçirmek widespread yaygın discussions about Internet freedom in Turkey, where many users had continued to watch YouTube videos by changing their computer settings or using proxy software programs.
4,000 websites are still banned yasaklı
The lifting of the ban is a "joyful' event, but "not enough,' according to Gürsel Tekin, the vice yardımcı chairman of the main opposition Republican People's Party, or CHP.
"We are much like a man who lost his donkey and becomes happy after finding it,' Tekin said. "Nearly 2.5 years ago, we lost our right to access YouTube, and now we have it back.'
Noting that more than 4,000 websites have been banned by Turkey's courts, Tekin said the country should break free from the censorship sansür mentality zihniyet. "There should be a new legal infrastructure altyapı formed so Turkey can solve these kinds of matters.'
YouTube was banned in Turkey upon a decision by the Ankara 1st Penal Court of Peace on May, 5, 2008, on charges iddia of breaking the Law on Crimes Against Atatürk.