PM Erdoğan’s threat to ban YouTube and Facebook echoes around world

ISTANBUL

'We are determined, we won’t let the Turkish people be sacrificed to YouTube and Facebook,' PM Erdoğan said during a live TV interview on March 6.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s threat to shut down Facebook and YouTube “if necessary” via a controversial recent law has drawn considerable reactions in the international media. Here are some of the latest reports:

Agence France-Presse: Turkey’s embattled prime minister has warned that his government could ban popular social media networks YouTube and Facebook after a number of online leaks added momentum to a spiraling corruption scandal … “Social media has turned into a domain for quite some time where the battle between the loyalists of the frustrated prime minister and the alleged ‘parallel state’ is in full swing,” Aslı Tunç, professor at Istanbul’s Bilgi University, told the AFP. “The government is seeking to find channels to shut down the social media that leaks tapes or dissident views. People cling to social media tools like Twitter for their news because the mainstream media or TV channels are cowering in fear,” she said.

The Associated Press: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is fighting a corruption scandal, has threatened further steps to censor the Internet, including shutting down Facebook and YouTube. His comments late Thursday [March 6] came as the Internet carried incriminating recordings of allegedly wiretapped telephone conversations, including one purported to be of Erdoğan instructing his son to dispose of large amounts of money from a residence during a police graft probe.

Reuters: Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan has threatened to ban Facebook and YouTube in Turkey in an attempt to stop political foes from anonymously posting audio recordings purportedly exposing corruption and other malpractices in his inner circle. In the latest recording, released on YouTube late Thursday, Erdoğan is purportedly heard berating a newspaper owner over the telephone about an article and suggesting the journalists be sacked, in comments that will further stoke concerns over media freedom and Erdoğan’s authoritarian style of leadership.

The Guardian: The Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said Facebook and YouTube could be banned following local elections in March after leaked tapes of an alleged phone call between him and his son went viral, prompting calls for his resignation. Erdoğan claims social media sites have been abused by his political enemies, in particular his former ally U.S.-based Turkish Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, who, he says, is behind a stream of “fabricated” audio recordings posted on the Internet purportedly revealing corruption in his inner circle. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/07/turkey-erdogan-facebook-youtube-ban-elections

Russia Today: Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan has hinted that he may implement a ban on Facebook and YouTube following this month’s elections. President Abdullah Gül has resolved to block the move, calling it “out of the question.” http://rt.com/news/erdogan-ban-facebook-youtube-366/

Al Jazeera: Turkey’s prime minister has given warning that his government could ban social media networks YouTube and Facebook after a number of online leaks added momentum to a growing corruption scandal. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has already tightened his government’s grip over the Internet, generating criticism at home and abroad about rights in the country. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2014/03/erdogan-sounds-social-media-ban-warning-20143725046895706.html