As it turns out Turkey decided to block Wikipedia online encyclopedia. The country's telecommunications watchdog issued the order citing a law that allows them to block access to websites deemed obscene or threatening national security.
Since Wikipedia does not fall into the first category, they will surely mean the second, perhaps because knowledge is a power that the Turkish people should not have, according to government.
This is a move that has raised concerns among freedom and rights groups about the direction in which Turkey is heading. This is not the first time the Erdogan government has taken action against freedom of speech and other fundamental rights. Several journalists were arrested for failing to report on what was happening in the country, while others were jailed for expressing negative opinions about their country's leadership.
"After technique analysis και νόμιμη εκτίμηση […] λάβαμε διοικητικά μέτρα για αυτόν τον ιστότοπο (wikipedia.org),” αναφέρει ο παρατηρητής τηλεπικοινωνιών (watchdog) σε μια ανακοίνωση που δημοσίευσε στην ιστοσελίδα του. Η ανακοίνωση αναφέρει επίσης ένα νόμο που τους επιτρέπει να αποκλείουν την πρόσβαση σε websites or on entire websites, if doing so may result in the protection of public order, national security or the public welfare.
Any appeal would have to be submitted to a court within 24 hours and then judges would need two days to decide whether to impose the exclusion measure or not. Of course, knowing the way things work in Turkey, it would be surprising if Wikipedia remains accessible to everyone.
The exclusion of the page has already been implemented, without waiting for the court's decision. From 8 am Wikipedia does not appear in Turkey.
Users of course have the ability to use VPN tools to access the blocked site.
