Posted on Thursday, March 08 2007 @ 0:12 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
A Turkish court ordered YouTube to be banned
after a prosecutor recommended the ban because of videos on the site that allegedly insult Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey.
Paul Doany, head of Turk Telekom, Turkey's largest telecommunications provider, said his company had begun immediately enforcing the ban.
"We are not in the position of saying that what YouTube did was an insult, that it was right or wrong," Doany said in remarks to the state-run Anatolia news agency. "A court decision was proposed to us, and we are doing what that court decision says."
Doany said Turk Telekom would allow access to the popular video sharing site again if the court decision were rescinded. Access from Turkey might be possible through other service providers, he said.
Over the past week, Turkish media publicized what some called a "virtual war" between Greeks and Turks on YouTube, with people from both sides posting videos to belittle and berate the other.
