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| Users lash out against Turkish government's block on Twitter |
Update: Turkish President Abdullah Gul has tweeted to denounce the government’s ban on Twitter, joining thousands of other Turkish citizens in protest, which have now well and truly taken over Twitter.
Ever since allegations of corruption in the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan-led Turkey government creeped up on Twitter, the country has been in a bit of a turmoil, especially given that elections were around the corner. There has been a lot of brouhaha after the PM decided to publicly voice his dislike of the micro-blogging social network.
Then today, a Turkish court ordered that access to Twitter be blocked in the country, after Erdogan threatened to wipe-out the service in an election rally. Erdogan has been in the centre of a string of corruption allegations, that along with a sex scandal and accusations of clamping down on media, have rocked Turkey. Twitter was the primary source of these revelations as two supposedly whistleblower accounts started leaking videos, photos and documents against the current government and many high-level politicians. The Turkish government claims that despite repeated requests, Twitter refused to take down links which were deemed objectionable. So the court issues a ban.
But despite the block, those involved in the leaks say they are not about to stop releasing more information. This morning, Haramzadeler333, who has been one of the main sources for the leaks, published all the documents in a Google Drive folder, anticipating the ban. The folder includes transcripts, videos and images that supposedly reveal the corruption in the government. The user has also posted videos on YouTube, as well as used other file-hosting services to keep the documents alive.
Turkish users: you can send Tweets using SMS. Avea and Vodafone text START to 2444. Turkcell text START to 2555.
— Policy (@policy) March 20, 2014
Secondly, even as the ban takes effect, Twitter has asked those from Turkey to rely on SMS-based tweeting to keep the world informed about developments.Thousands of Turkish citizens are tweeting in protest. Many have resorted to using the SMS service, which allows them to tweet with just a simple text message to a phone number.
#TwitterisblockedinTurkey just good luck with your struggle against dictatorship
— Alia Ahmed Kassim (@AliaKassim) March 21, 2014
A lot of on-ground activity has also been seen so those in the country can avert the block, such as the below graffiti that shows users how to access Twitter using the Google Public DNS. So it’s not like one cannot use Twitter at all in the country.
#TwitterisblockedinTurkey '@paulmasonnews: How ppl in Istanbul are spreading the Twitter workaround http://t.co/SNHHhDdW3E ' #Turkey
— Pinar Dag (@pinardag) March 21, 2014
Turkey’s Information Technology and Telecommunications Board said the service had to be blocked after “complaints from our citizens” about violations of rights and privacy. “Twitter has ignored decisions made by the courts of the Republic of Turkey,” the board said in a statement on its website. “Left with no other choice to prevent the incompensable victimization of our citizens, a preventive measure blocking access to Twitter has been imposed in line with court decisions.”The news comes on a day when Twitter is celebrating its eighth anniversary. While it has memorialised your first tweet, for many Turkish Twitter users, the anniversary would be a starkly different reminder.
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