Turkey stuffs YouTube (again)

Much ado about Ataturk

By Cade Metz in San Francisco • Get more from this author

Posted in Law, 19th September 2007 04:54 GMT

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A Turkish court has banned YouTube access after someone complained that the world's most popular video sharer was hosting clips that insulted the country's founding father. And, yes, you've heard all this before.

In response to a Turkish resident who stumbled onto YouTube videos badmouthing not only Mustafa Kemal Ataturk but President Abdullah Gul, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the national army, the court has ordered the Turkish Telecommunications Board to block access to the entire site, The AFP reports.

Much the same thing happened this past March, when a court order forced the country's largest telecommunications provider, Turk Telekom, to put the kibosh on YouTube access.

That ban lasted but two days. Turk Telecom removed a video that insulted Ataturk, whose memory is protected by Turkish law, and access to the site was soon restored. But just six months later, another blackout seems imminent.

YouTube didn't respond to our request for comment, but the Google-owned company told the Anatolia news agency that is was "ready to cooperate with Turkish authorities to resolve the dispute". We'll see about that. ®

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