End to YouTube ban in sight after over 2 years

Popular video sharing website YouTube has been blocked in Turkey for two-and-a-half years, following a highly embarrassing lawsuit.

 

Although users can access the site through relatively simple steps, such as changing the DNS address or using online proxy servers, the ban itself has damaged the country’s image.
YouTube was banned by a court order, a possibility after the government passed legislation in 2005 to fight cyber crime, for hosting videos that insulted Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the nation’s founder. Insulting him or his memory is criminalized under Turkish law. The ban has remained in place for about two-and-a-half years now, with Minister of Transport and Communication Binali Y?ld?r?m complaining that Google, which also owns YouTube, should pay taxes in Turkey as it does in other countries in an attempt to distract observers’ attention from the court’s decision, which specifically mentioned anti-Atatürk videos as the reason behind its ruling.
Yesterday, the Germany-based International Licensing Service, owned by Turkish citizens, announced that it had removed the videos that insult Atatürk from YouTube. The company’s CEO, Erdem Karahan, said, “We were able to remove those videos using our own means.” The company found a way to legally claim ownership rights on all Atatürk-related content and pictures and, thus, was able to have YouTube remove the videos. It was not clear how it was able to achieve this.
Leyla Keser Berber, an official from the Internet Council, said this happened with the knowledge of the Ministry of Transport and Communications and several other state communications and Internet agencies. She said she hoped to access the site freely starting next week, noting, “We will be applying to court this Monday.”
It was not clear why this remedy — which both state officials and the company that now owns the rights to Atatürk-related content say was extremely easy — could not be sought earlier.

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