By Emre Peker And Sam Schechner
ISTANBUL--A Turkish court Monday banned access to Twitter Inc.
and Google Inc.'s YouTube for failing to remove content related to
a deadly hostage crisis last week, marking the second time in a
year that the social-media platforms have been blocked after
getting mired in Turkey's political turmoil.
The blackout came after an Istanbul court ordered the two U.S.
companies, as well as Facebook Inc. and dozens of other local and
foreign websites, to take down images, voice and videos recordings
linked to the hostage crisis, threatening a blanket blockade for
noncompliance. By Monday evening, Twitter access was restored as
authorities said the microblogging service confirmed it had removed
tweets containing the banned material and listed in the court
decision, while YouTube remained blocked.
The Ankara-based Internet Service Providers' Association, which
represents all operators in Turkey, distributed the court order to
its members Monday, said a company representative, who declined to
be identified because the person wasn't authorized to speak about
legal matters.
Turkish Internet users were reporting blackouts and skirting the
ban by using virtual-private networks, or VPNs, that obscure the
country of access to allow the use of the social-media
platforms.
A Google spokesman said the company is working to restore access
to YouTube "as soon as possible."
A Facebook spokesman said Monday that the company had received a
"valid court order" in Turkey to "restrict access to certain
content or our service would be blocked." The spokesman said
Facebook has complied with the order, but is appealing it.
Aside from social-media platforms, the decision also covers
websites of leading Turkish outlets Hurriyet and NTV news channel,
local opposition newspapers Cumhuriyet and Sozcu, as well as U.K.
newspaper the Independent and Australia's top-ranking news website
news.com.au, the person familiar with the court order said.
The Istanbul court's decision comes after the Revolutionary
People's Liberation Party-Front, or DHKP-C, killed a prosecutor
overseeing a high-profile, politically charged case last
Tuesday.
During the half-day standoff between two members of the
terrorist-listed organization and security forces, the DHKP-C
published photos on social-media of Prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz
with a gun to his head and the Marxist-Leninist outfit's
yellow-starred red flags in the background. The pictures were
widely distributed and some newspapers printed them on their cover,
prompting a strong backlash from the government and
prosecutors.
"It is not acceptable for certain media organizations that must
act with the responsibilities of being the press to publish these
photos, as if they were engaged in terrorism propaganda," Turkish
presidency Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said Monday, shortly after the
bans came into effect. He said "any blocking of access is out of
the question" despite the start of blackouts on Twitter and
YouTube, adding that he had heard of the developments shortly
before his news conference.
The court ordered the removal of Mr. Kiraz's photos and videos,
and blocking of related links where content removal wasn't
possible. Barring both options, the websites should be banned
entirely, the court said.
"These broadcasts have been shared as propaganda for the armed
terrorist organization DHKP-C," the decision said, adding that
their publication also endangered public safety. Last year's
Twitter and YouTube bans were based on national security.
Yeliz Candemir contributed to this article.
Write to Emre Peker at emre.peker@wsj.com and Sam Schechner at
sam.schechner@wsj.com
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