Access to Wikipedia restored in Turkey after 2-year block
The Turkish public has regained access to Wikipedia after two and a half years of a block, the New York Times reports.
The site was blocked on April 27, 2017 after Wikipedia refused to remove pages that the Turkish government considered offensive.
Several pages talked about Turkey’s ties with terrorists and Syrian militants. Also, Turkey had claims against articles about the failed coup in 2016. Turkey accuses well-known Turkish theologian Fethullah Gulen of organizing a coup, and demands his extradition from the US.
However, many international experts consider these statements by the Turkish government unfounded.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
•Turkey between Erdogan and Gulen
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
The Turkish Constitutional Court – the highest court to consider this issue – ruled in favor of Wikipedia after the lawyers of the online encyclopedia managed to prove that the ban violates the right to freedom of speech, which is protected by the Turkish Constitution. This was told to reporters by Stephen Laporte, legal director of the Wikipedia Foundation, which runs Wikipedia.
