Turkey restores access to YouTube
6/3/2014ISTANBUL — Turkish authorities say they have restored access to YouTube five days after the country’s highest court ruled that the two-month ban on the video-sharing website violates freedom of expression.
Turkish news reports said that the court’s decision was delivered to the country’s telecommunications regulator today. YouTube became accessible later in the day.
The restrictions on YouTube were imposed in late March after the leak of an audio recording of a government security meeting. In the recording, senior officials appeared to be discussing a possible military intervention in Syria.
A lawyer representing YouTube, the Turkish Bar Association and legislators from Turkey’s main opposition party appealed to the high court, seeking to overturn the ban that they said was unconstitutional.