Free speech
has won in Turkey after the government was forced to overturn a ban on Twitter.
Twitter was banned
on 20 March 2014 after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the
social media network’s users of using it to point out corruption in his
government.
The ban,
which came into effect by court injunction, was lifted after Constitutional
Court’s decision “open immediately” on 3 April 2014.
Why Twitter was banned
“We will
wipe out Twitter,” the prime minster said at the Bursa rally on 20 March 2014,
calling it “the worst menace to society”. After this speech Twitter was banned.
The
opposition criticised the decision as a violation of freedom of speech.
Bilal
Balevi, 42, jeweller, “I disagree on banning Twitter. In fact, the government
is using the ban in order to increase the percentage of votes in the coming up
election. Pretext of the ban is some immoral issues that published on Twitter
which was absolutely good reason for get a few vote in the election. However,
closing Twitter cannot stop people using the social media. I believe that
people will keep using Twitter in anyway,” he said.
Emel Ozer,
35, Manager of a renting company, “I entirely oppose to closing Twitter. Prohibitions
attract people so it is not a solution. Due to democracy people are free to
think, speak and share an opinion. People may have various opinions on a topic,
and then you cannot punish the people because of their conception,” she added.
Emrah Demir,
17, student, “I think, the government’s decision about Twitter is wrong. People
are free to speak and share its opinion on social media. Banning Twitter is not
a solution. Government should reconsider the decision,” said.
Kafkas
Metin, 31, worker at private company said: “Existing of parallel structures in
Turkey has exposed confidential information of the state through Twitter.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Army’s high level phone talks should not be
disclosed. For this reason, Twitter should be banned.”
Sumeyye Gok,
27, student said: “Closing Twitter is unnecessary. People have right to share
their opinion freely. No one can stop thinking.”
However,
thousands of Turkish Twitter users continued to access to the website by using
proxy servers and other means such as mobile phone.
According to
Turkish newspaper, Cumhuriyet, there are about 6m Twitter users across Turkey.
Turkey had
already blocked some forms of social media in the past. YouTube was banned for
videos deemed insulting to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of Turkey, were
posted on its site but authorities lifted the ban in 2010. Four years later it was
banned once more after secret phone talking revealed among Foreign Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu, Ministry Undersecretery Feridun Sinirlioglu, MIT (National
Intelligence Agency) Undersecretary Hakan Fidan and Orgeneral Yasar Guler. The
ban was lifted on 13 April 2014.
It seems
Twitter may no longer be banned in Turkey, as long as the government not to see
it as a threat.
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