Turkey bans YouTube

9 March 2007 14:59 GMT / By Amber Maitland

Turkey is under a YouTube blackout after one of its courts banned it for posting a video insulting Turkishness.

Prosecutors to the court recommended the total ban after a video appeared that insulted the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kema Ataturk, calling him and all Turks homosexuals.

Insulting Ataturk is a criminal offense in Turkey.

Turk Telekom, the largest internet provider in Turkey, immediately enforced the ban. "We are not in the position of saying that what YouTube did was an insult, that it was right or wrong", Paul Doany, Turk Telekom's CEO told a Turkish news agency.

"A court decision was proposed to us, and we are doing what that court decision says."

Although the offending video has been removed from the site, and the court and Turk Telekom have said that they will restore access as soon as the video has been taken down, so far the site remains blocked.

The law that says that insulting Turkishness is a crime has been criticised by the EU, so much so that if it's not changed, it may influence the decision over Turkey's becoming part of the Union.

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