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Turkey temporarily blocked Twitter and YouTube
in the run-up to local elections in March 2014, after audio
recordings purportedly showing corruption in then-Prime Minister
Tayyip Erdogan's inner circle were leaked on their sites. That
decision caused a public uproar and drew heavy international
criticism.
Turkey's telecoms regulator could not immediately be reached for
comment and there was no statement on its website.
The blocks come less than a week after an Istanbul prosecutor
died after security forces stormed the office where members of a
far-left group had taken him hostage.
Several Turkish newspapers said that the blocks came after
photos of the prosecutor being held at gunpoint were circulated
on social media while the siege was ongoing.
Turkey filed over five times more content removal requests to
Twitter than any other country in the second half of 2014, data
published in February by the micro-blogging site showed. Last
year, Turkey tightened laws allowing sites to be blocked by the
authorities more easily.
(This version of the story updates to add details)
(Reporting by Asli Kandemir; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing
by Humeyra Pamuk)
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