Turkey justifies YouTube ban for insult to Atatürk

ISTANBUL

The TİB blocked access to YouTube on March 27, hours after leaked recordings of a key security meeting between government officials over Syria were published on the video sharing website. REUTERS Photo

The ban on YouTube has been legally justified by a law that penalizes insults to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic, rather than the publication of leaked voice recordings of a top security meeting on Syria.

The popular video sharing website was banned in after the publication of the recording, which contained voices believed to belong to top officials including Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and Intelligence Chief Hakan Fidan.

However, the court decision referred to by the Turkish Telecommunication Authority (TİB) did not cite any law that potentially penalizes the leak of secret files.

Cyber-law expert Gökhan Ahi told Hürriyet that the court might have used any video insulting Atatürk as an excuse to ban access to all of YouTube’s content from Turkey.

Ahi added that the current Internet law did not contain any provisions that allowed an access ban for national security reason.