A Bloomberg report said the government of Turkey has finally removed the ban on Twitter two weeks after it blocked the microblogging site to curb more leaks purportedly from a graft probe. The ban removal was via a court order.
Turkey reportedly imposed the social media ban after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip claimed that San Francisco-based Twitter Inc did not follow orders from lower courts to remove certain content linked to a graft probe, of which some of the content implicated him and his close allies and family members.
Late yesterday, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said in Istanbul that the government will comply with the order issued by the Constitutional Court. Earlier today, senior member Haluk Ipek of Erdogan's party affirmed the government's compliance with the order in a matter of hours. Bloomberg said Twitter was now accessible in Turkey as of 7PM Istanbul time.
The Erdogan administration had banned the social media site and YouTube ahead of the local elections on March 30 after damaging recordings, some of them allegedly from police wiretaps from a corruption probe, had been published online. Although the recordings could not be verified, Bloomberg said it called into question everything from the government ministers' financial probity to their religious piety.
Erdogan's party had since won the local elections, the news agency said, which meant that his supporters have largely ignored the online leaks that would otherwise damage his credibility as a politician and a world leader. The Turkish government has since denied all allegations from the leaks.
Analyst Nihat Ali Ozcan at the Economic Policy Research Foundation in Ankara told Bloomberg by phone today, "Erdogan is not worried about leaks any more since the local elections proved they failed to affect his grassroots supporters. The government now may even use the court decision as an argument to show that checks and balances are working in Turkey."
