YouTube censored yet again by another court order blocking access

Reporters Without Borders condemns the obstinacy of the Turkish authorities in continuing to censor the Google-owned video-sharing website YouTube. On 20 November, the Telecommunications Council endorsed the fourth court order blocking access to the site, this one issued on 30 October by a magistrate's court in Cubuk, in Ankara province. The authorities claim that content posted on YouTube is either disrespectful to Kemal Mustafa Atatürk, the Turkish Republic's founder, or supports the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). “We have said it before and we say it again now - blocking access to YouTube is wrong,” Reporters Without Borders said. “It has been blocked since 5 May, as a result of an earlier court order, and the obstinacy shown by the authorities is unacceptable. Denying Turkish citizens access to this file-sharing site violates freedom of information.” Judge Ali Yusuf Basaran of the Cubuk magistrate's court issued the latest blocking order under article 8 (1) of Law 5651 on crimes and offences committed online and article 162 of the criminal procedure law. Law 5651 is the main reason for the deterioration in online free expression in Turkey, which was ranked 102nd out of 173 countries in this year's Reporters Without Borders press freedom index. The law requires ISPs to block access websites deemed to broken the law, making them accomplices to censorship. Reporters Without Borders has repeatedly called for its revision. In force since November 2007, Law 5671 empowers a public prosecutor to ban access to a website within 24 hours if the content is considered “liable to incite suicide, pedophilia, drug usage, obscenity or prostitution” or if it “contradicts the law of Atatürk.” The 5 May order blocking YouTube was issued by an Ankara court which ruled that certain videos available on the site were disrespectful to Atatürk. The Nacizane Bilgi (http://www.nacizanebilgo.com) Turkish popular dictionary website has meanwhile been rendered inaccessible as a result of a complaint by religious leader Adnan Oktar on the grounds that its editors allowed Internet users to post “insulting” terms in its article about him. Lawsuits by Oktar had resulted in the blocking of at least 61 websites.