Turkey’s Constitutional Court says blocking of access to Wikipedia is violation of law

The Constitutional Court issued a statement saying the blocking of access to Wikipedia is a violation of rule also asking the magistrate to lift the ban. Wikipedia has been blocked by Turkey’s government for two and a half years.

The Information Technology and Communications Authority (BTK) decided to block access to Wikipedia, which is the largest encyclopedia on the internet, on 29 April 2017. The reason announced by the authority was that the web portal did not accept to remove some content showing Turkey in cooperation with terror organizations.

At the time of blocking the page BTK had warned the web portal as follows: “It has been obligatory to take the measure to block WIKIPEDIA as the portal has not responded to our warning in compliance with the international law, to remove the concerned content that Turkey supports terror organizations.”

Wikipedia’s lawyers had filed an appeal against the ruling but the ban was not lifted. Following the exhaustion of legal remedies, Wikipedia’s jurists had appealed to the Constitutional Court in 2017.

The General Assembly of the Constitutional Court ruled today that Wikipedia’s freedom of expression had been violated because of the decision to block access. The unanimous decision was sent to the magistrate to abolish the violation by removing the ban.