While my Turkey blog is less frequent these days, I still track the latest and this one deserves attention. Now Google sites are banned inTurkey; this time the lawsuit hails from Denizli, home of a dear friend of mine.
The International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) reports that the Second Criminal Court of Peace in Denizli on June 24th banned Google and did not give a reason to add to the lame excuses of bans across Turkish Courts. When will Turkey learn that they cannot patrol the internet to any advantage of their state?
Since November 2007, over 2600 websites have been banned and right now YouTube is still banned. To read more in Turkish, go to Bianet which is a Communications Foundation tracking these bans and other injustices to the people of Turkey.
Do these silly courts not understand how they impair their people from becoming more educated and doing better business by blocking the very resources needed to build a better society?
I don't experience the ban of any Google sites in Turkey, and I've been able to get around the silly ban on YouTube.com by using a proxy server site. Nearly everyone knows how to get around these bans -- the government of Turkey should show they aren't clueless and drop the silly bans.
Posted by: Jim Buie | Saturday, 16 January 2010 at 07:55 PM
Thanks for the information you give
Posted by: annunci | Thursday, 14 January 2010 at 04:52 AM
Thank you for all your comments and the short answer is you never know what will be blocked and how much and when. This has been going on for several years that I can actually count back to and I've written about it.
Unfortunately, when the country hasn't decided who they are yet in terms of their laws and freedom bigots, this is what you may experience from time to time.
Any site or associated sites can be banned at any time and also its unbanning.
Whether Google gets banned just for its web page services or not, tomorrow it might be something more.
I'm sure you know how many authors, reporters, journalists, broadcasters and translators have been arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned or fined in the past few years. Ouch!!
Posted by: Bea | Tuesday, 21 July 2009 at 02:55 PM
there are proxies, such as vtunnel and ktunnel.
Posted by: leah | Sunday, 19 July 2009 at 04:52 AM
This is very disturbing. I am planning to move to Turkey for a year in August (my wife got a teaching job there). I do Internet-related consulting work. If Google email and search and all the other Google services as well as YouTube.com and blogging services are blocked, and if there are frequent high-speed Internet outages, serious questions arise about whether I will be able to do my work from Turkey. Will I just have to come back to the U.S. because I am unable to make a living in Turkey while my wife and son are there? I am hoping that proxy servers will work in getting around the ban.
Posted by: Jim Buie | Tuesday, 14 July 2009 at 04:16 PM
I thought it was just Google Sites, the web page service. Is it ALL of Google?
Posted by: Tamra Hays | Tuesday, 14 July 2009 at 12:50 PM
It looks like Turkey is even worse than Iran (which have been in the news lately), when it comes in blocking their citizens access to news and information...
Posted by: Casper | Tuesday, 14 July 2009 at 11:52 AM
I heard that youtube was banned in Turkey but Google???? Does that mean every aspect of Google? I use Google for a lot of stuff (calendars, mail etc.) and I am planning to move to Turkey. How annoying!
Posted by: Dylan | Monday, 13 July 2009 at 11:14 PM