March has proven to be a rather tumultuous time in Turkey, especially Istanbul, no thanks to the unrest among the people there and their unhappiness with the current Prime Minister. In fact, the government of the day laid down the banhammer on Twitter in Turkey, with the possibility of YouTube following suit as well, although Turkish courts had since lifted the ban on Twitter. However the government has yet to do so, and has just hinted earlier today that Twitter could be accessible soon now that the elections are over.
Turkey’s Telecommunications Board, or better known as TIB, has already removed a court ruling from its website which was used to ban Twitter usage. Even though the ban has been lifted, Twitter still could not be directly accessed at the beginning, requiring users to figure out technical workarounds such as virtual private networks. The TIB claimed that Twitter’s ban would be “lifted right after the necessary technical steps are taken.”
Well, all’s well that ends well, and I suppose waiting for a little while longer would not hurt, especially when it comes to the might of the government regardless of which country you are. Still, Twitter and other social networks have proven themselves to be useful tools in disseminating information in the past, and has shown that to be true yet again this time around.
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