Constanze Letsch in Istanbul 

Turkish court lifts Twitter ban

Deputy prime minister says Turkish government will accept court decision to lift ban on microblogging website
  
  

Last week Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, vowed to 'eradicate' Twitter
Last week Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, vowed to 'eradicate' Twitter. Photograph: ?ahan Nuho?lu/ ?ahan Nuho?lu/Demotix/Corbis Photograph: ?ahan Nuho?lu/ ?ahan Nuho?lu/Demotix/Corbis

Turkish Twitter users are expected to regain access to the microblogging platform after a local court issued a stay of execution on last week's decision by a local telecommunications authority to ban the website.

According to some local media reports, the ban will be lifted as soon as the administrative court in Ankara informs Turkey's Telecommunications Authority of the ruling.

In a first official remark, deputy prime minister Bülent Arinç said the Turkish government would implement the court ruling. "We will implement the court's decision. We might not like the court decision, but we will carry it out," he told reporters.

The microblogging site was blocked on Friday, only hours after Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, vowed to "eradicate" Twitter in an election speech. The website has been used to disseminate a series of apparently incriminating audio recordings suggesting massive corruption inside the Turkish government.

The disruption, implemented only days before crucial local elections, sparked national and international outrage. EU officials, human rights organisations, the US government and the UN all expressed grave concern about Turkey's attempt to curb freedom of expression and the increasing authoritarian stance of the Turkish government.

Several complaints were filed contesting the ban, and Turkish bar associations harshly criticised the block as unlawful and unconstitutional.

Twitter on Wednesday said it had handed in petitions for lawsuits challenging the ban, while also starting to suspend content in compliance with Turkish court orders. According to the Turkish daily Hürriyet, the account @oyyokhirsize ("no vote for the thief") was not accessible anymore from Turkey. In a statement on the company's official blog, general counsel Vijaya Gadde confirmed Twitter had, for the first time in Turkey, used a tool to block access to an account accusing a former minister of corruption while it contested a court order to take it down.

The statement, which underlined that the company did not disclose any user data to the Turkish government, urged the immediate lifting of the ban: "With all announced bases for the access ban addressed, there are no legal grounds for the blocking of our service in Turkey. Furthermore, with positive developments today concerning judicial review of this disproportionate and illegal administrative act of access banning the whole of Twitter, we expect the government to restore access to Twitter immediately so that its citizens can continue an open online dialogue ahead of the elections to be held at the end of this week."

Turkish officials have repeatedly defended the ban, accusing Twitter of ignoring Turkish court decisions to withdraw content considered to violate the right of privacy.

In a live TV interview on Tuesday, the prime minister also defended the government's Twitter block: "If the issues are not dealt with, we'll close the site down. If [Twitter] abides by the blockage [of certain accounts], we will lift the ban." And he added: "We are not against the use of advanced technology, but unlawful use of it is not acceptable." In recent campaign speeches he has also hinted at a possible clampdown on popular websites such as YouTube and Facebook.

Turkey's justice minister, Bekir Bozdag, expressed scepticism concerning Wednesday's court ruling: "All the TIB is doing right now is to comply with court decisions. I wonder about the administrative court's reasoning. We will see how they came to the conclusion that an institution complying with a court order acts unconstitutionally."

 

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