Youtube and Facebook May Be Banned In Turkey, Again

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Youtube and Facebook May Be Banned In Turkey, Again

Posted by Unknown on Friday March 7, 2014 @02:25AM from the cat-videos-considered-subversive dept.

Taco Cowboy writes "Istanbul (dpa) — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is considering banning YouTube and Facebook after local elections at the end of this month, according to remarks carried by local media Friday. It may, or may not be related to the criticisms arising from (not-yet verified) leaked recordings of Mr. Erdogan's involvement with corruption. 'We will not let YouTube and Facebook destroy our nation. We will take measures, including closure,' said Erdogan, who has previously made comments against social media sites. YouTube had been banned in the country for two years and was recently unblocked."

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weapons of mass destruction by invictusvoyd · 2014-03-07 02:29 · Score: 1

We will not let YouTube and Facebook destroy our nation

Ha ha ha
1. Re:weapons of mass destruction by skovnymfe · 2014-03-07 02:33 · Score: 3
  
  Weapons of Mass Media you mean.
  And when do these ignorant dumbasses learn that being afraid of mass media just makes them look even more ignorant and backwards?
2. Re:weapons of mass destruction by drinkypoo · 2014-03-07 02:39 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  We will not let YouTube and Facebook destroy our nation
  Ha ha ha
  By "Ha ha ha" do you mean "If your nation can be destroyed by YouTube and Facebook, your nation is fairly described as pathetic?" Because if so, I agree completely.
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
3. Re:weapons of mass destruction by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-07 02:39 · Score: 0
  
  No . I think he meant weapons of mass destruction.
4. Re:weapons of mass destruction by invictusvoyd · 2014-03-07 02:43 · Score: 1
  
  Not at all .. It's really amusing to see some politician make such a fuss about youtube .. and facehook!! .. AFAIK they cant destroy a chicken .. together ..
5. Re:weapons of mass destruction by SpankiMonki · 2014-03-07 02:43 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Weapons of Mass Media you mean.
  And when do these ignorant dumbasses learn that being afraid of mass media just makes them look even more ignorant and backwards?
  I know, right? Don't those Turkish government idiots realize that they can use mass media to distract, polarize and confuse their citizens? What a bunch of maroons.
6. Re:weapons of mass destruction by plopez · 2014-03-07 03:29 · Score: 2
  
  A Conservative would say something like "properly market and manage the Turkish(tm) brand to maximize efficiencies"
  
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  putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
7. Re:weapons of mass destruction by PolygamousRanchKid+ · 2014-03-07 06:16 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  If you are a political leader and are afraid of Facebook and Youtube, then you are afraid of your own people. In the case of Erdogan, he is just another Muslim Brotherhood goon trying to tighten the screws on society to slowly squeeze Turkey into becoming an Islamic Republic. His first move to achieve this was jailing thousands of officers in the Turkish military, who were schooled in the thoughts of Kemal Atatürk, the "Father of the Turks".
  As a brief description of what Kemal Atatürk was all about, I'll just lift this from Wikipedia:
  
  His military campaigns led to victory in the Turkish War of Independence. Atatürk then embarked upon a program of political, economic, and cultural reforms, seeking to transform the former Ottoman Empire into a modern, secular, and democratic nation-state. Under his leadership, thousands of new schools were built, primary education was made free and compulsory, and women were given equal civil and political rights, while the burden of taxation on peasants was reduced.[3] The principles of Atatürk's reforms, upon which modern Turkey was established, are referred to as Kemalism.
  Not bad, considering that this was in the late 1920's! He even introduced a new Latin based alphabet, that replaced the old Arabic script! Can you image a political leader today, who would have the balls and the support to just say, "Oh, let's just switch our alphabet."
  The strategy of Muslim Brotherhood cretins, is to get elected claiming to be "moderately Islamic", without showing their true intentions. Then they use the courts to jail any political opposition and then slowly implement restrictions on society to transform it into an Islamic state. With the army now out of his way, there are only a few brave folks left who stage protests. When his corruption was exposed, he thought that he was far enough down the Islamic path that he can just act like a caliph now.
  It would really be a sad loss for humanity, if all those enlightened thoughts of Atatürk get stomped into the ground, and Turkey is forced into the shackles of Islam in their place.
  
  --
  Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
8. Re:weapons of mass destruction by cold+fjord · 2014-03-07 06:25 · Score: 1
  
  By "Ha ha ha" do you mean "If your nation can be destroyed by YouTube and Facebook, your nation is fairly described as pathetic?" Because if so, I agree completely.
  It is not the technology of streaming video and pictures on the internet that they fear so much as what they bear: Ideas. Ideas are the pebble that begin the avalanche of action. The has brought change to many nations, including some that no longer exist, for good or ill.
  
  --
  much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
9. Re:weapons of mass destruction by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-07 06:58 · Score: 0
  
  You mean Weapons of Mass Distraction?
10. Re:weapons of mass destruction by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-07 09:40 · Score: 1
  
  A good deal of blame for the re-islamization of Turkey falls on Europe. It was they who insisted that the army loosens its grip on power, forgetting that in Turkey, the army plays a very different role than it otherwise does. Whereas in Eastern Europe, the traditional role of the army was to suppress anti-Communist thought, in Turkey, the army had a role of enforcing Kemalism and seeing to it that Islam, which was a part of the reason for the downfall of the Ottoman empire, didn't make a comeback into Turkish political life.
  Instead, the EU made the same assumptions about Turkey that it did the last 4 years about the Arab empire, and thought that once these countries became democratic, they'd all become new Switzerlands. So they forced Turkey, which was anxious to be a part of the EU, to loosen the grip of its military on the country. Ironically, the result of that has been that the Turkish government that people then elected is less interested in integrating with Europe, and more interested in rediscovering its Ottoman and Seljuk pasts, and recreating links with Turkic countries like Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, et al as well as its Islamic friends like Saudi Arabia and Egypt. They've been @ the forefront of supporting the Sunni insurrection in Syria, and are now more interested in regaining their status as the head of the Islamic empire - something that they had under the Ottomans.
  So good work, Europe, in handing over a country that was doing fine ever since it started de-islamizing, back to the thongs of islam. Osman & Suleiman must be laughing in their graves.
11. Re:weapons of mass destruction by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-07 12:20 · Score: 0
  
  That's a liberal speaking here in Europe. Or a travel agent.
12. Re:weapons of mass destruction by seyyah · 2014-03-07 12:54 · Score: 1
  
  I'm afraid you've drunk the AtatÃ¼rk kool-aid. It wasn't pretty. There was no equality in the Turkish republic (look at the Kurds, Greeks, Armenians, Jews and yes, even the women). It wasn't a democracy. And changing the alphabet just meant that future generations were condemned to a life without any concept of their history, the good or the bad. The republic was founded on the principle of deportations, massacres and forced assimilation.
  
  It would really be a sad loss for humanity, if all those enlightened thoughts of AtatÃ¼rk get stomped into the ground, and Turkey is forced into the shackles of Islam in their place.
  It'd be a boon to humanity if the thoughts of AtatÃ¼rk were finally let go: the authoritarianism, the fanatical nationalism, the militarism and so on. The only sad bit were if the modern conservative Islam of the AKP were to be what replaces it.
Re:Who names their country by Viol8 · 2014-03-07 02:32 · Score: 1

Don't know - but you're a chicken to ask that as A/C
He was Titanic by Delifisek · 2014-03-07 02:34 · Score: 1

And does not know goes against Iceberg.

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[My english is better than most other people's Turkish, so please point out mistakes politely. Thank you.]
Turkey doing its bit for future EU integration by Viol8 · 2014-03-07 02:37 · Score: 2

Not.
Mind you - given the EU machinery in brussels is operated partially by an unelected commision perhaps the turkish governments undemocratic and authoritarian approach is smarter than it first appears.
1. Re:Turkey doing its bit for future EU integration by ericloewe · 2014-03-07 03:28 · Score: 2
  
  Indirectly elected != unelected.
  Technically, the president of the United States isn't elected either, he's chosen by a bunch of people chosen to elect him.
2. Re:Turkey doing its bit for future EU integration by KingMotley · 2014-03-07 04:11 · Score: 2
  
  He is elected, just not directly by the public at large.
3. Re:Turkey doing its bit for future EU integration by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-07 07:06 · Score: 0
  
  he's chosen by a bunch of people chosen to elect him.
  Sounds like an election.
worked for NSA, right? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-07 02:37 · Score: 0

we all know exposing the crimes of government is FAR worse than COMMITTING them!
Re:Who names their country by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-07 02:45 · Score: 0

Some of us oldtimers have never registered a username on this website. You may have the narcissistic need to make a name for yourself. Others don't.
Nope. by Qbertino · 2014-03-07 02:45 · Score: 1

News says Turkish President may well just tell Prime Erdogan to go f*ck himself. Parliament would probably too. That's what I'd hope for anyway.

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We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
Re:Who names their country by Rik+Sweeney · 2014-03-07 02:45 · Score: 2

The bird took its name from the country.

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Summation 2
But without Youtube... by barlevg · 2014-03-07 02:47 · Score: 2

How will residents of Turkey's largest city learn of their home's rich history?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsQrKZcYtqg
Or, if you prefer the classic version...
FB and YT should ban Turkey. by mtthwbrnd · 2014-03-07 02:49 · Score: 1

Show 'em 'oooze da boz.
Great by snookiex · 2014-03-07 02:52 · Score: 2

I hope Turkish FB and YT users use this time to read a book.

--
Open Source Network Inventory for the masses! Kuwaiba
In related news... by lfourrier · 2014-03-07 03:05 · Score: 3, Funny

Turkish productivity up 15 % in a few weeks
Re:Who names their country by Viol8 · 2014-03-07 03:05 · Score: 1

It was a joke you bloody halfwit - turkey / chicken , get it? Hello?
Oldtimer and senile it would seem.
Erdogan siktir git! by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-07 03:15 · Score: 0

n.t.
In related new... by aralin · 2014-03-07 03:30 · Score: 1

... the productivity in Turkey went up by 237%

--
If programs would be read like poetry, most programmers would be Vogons.
It's about his ass by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-07 03:31 · Score: 0

It's not about FB or YT or Turkey. Idiot Erdogan thinks he can block new corruption tapes and save his ass.
They need to get Chinese help by plopez · 2014-03-07 03:32 · Score: 1

And build their own great wall. Cisco, IBM, and a host of other companies would be more than happy to help.

--
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
To the mod by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-07 03:34 · Score: 0

Weapons of Mass Media you mean.
And when do these ignorant dumbasses learn that being afraid of mass media just makes them look even more ignorant and backwards?
I know, right? Don't those Turkish government idiots realize that they can use mass media to distract, polarize and confuse their citizens? What a bunch of maroons.
That's what a typical Liberal would say.
***WHOOSH*** at Mach 4!
The question by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-07 03:34 · Score: 0

What do they stand to lose?
I can't think of many useful things right now...
Re:Who names their country by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-07 03:40 · Score: 0

WHich came first the bird or the Ottaman Empire's fall? Did you know the late Ben Franklin was to have the turkey as the national symbol instead of the bald eagke. Fortunately for Thanksgiving day feasts this did not happen.
Re:Who names their country by Dishwasha · 2014-03-07 03:56 · Score: 1

Apparently they should have been named "Ostrich" since they have a preference to bury their heads in the sand.
YouTube and Facebook destroy our nation by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-07 03:59 · Score: 0

Quite amusing that a country can be killed by a couple of time wasting web sites.
Perhaps what Erdogan means by "our nation" is "my hands on the kitty"?
Perhaps he also means that he's too dumb to use social and other media to effectively manipulate public opinion and get elected? I mean, the guy represents a conservative, religious party so presumably his world view is stuck in the 1500s with an intellect to match.
Re:Who names their country by TheGratefulNet · 2014-03-07 03:59 · Score: 1

apply a/c to a chicken doesn't help. if you want to cook it, you want heat, not a/c.

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"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
When you think YouTube and Facebook... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-07 04:18 · Score: 0

When you think YouTube and Facebook are destroying your nation, look around, maybe YOU are the one destroying the nation.
He's about half right . . . by Kimomaru · 2014-03-07 04:34 · Score: 1

I love youtube, so that part makes me sad. But Facebook needs to be banned everywhere, period. There was a time when America's Titans of Industry were people like John D Rockefeller, Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie - people who changed the world with things that sheltered us, improved transportation, and fed and powered the nation. Now our magnates are people who help us post selfies and sell its users as a statistic in advertising. Pathetic.
1. Re: He's about half right . . . by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-07 10:47 · Score: 0
  
  Henry Ford was in bed with the Third Reich
How can we get them banned here? (kidding) by uCallHimDrJ0NES · 2014-03-07 05:07 · Score: 1

YouTube streaming quality is terrible, and has created a world where no one thinks they need to host their own media servers ever. Facebook reduces all conversation to banality and creates dangerous delusions in its users. If only these were the reasons the Turks banned these sites.

--
Cloudiot: A person who does not see offsite storage as a way to lose control over access to his or her own data.
1. Re:How can we get them banned here? (kidding) by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-07 05:14 · Score: 0
  
  I predict that Turkey will move up in rank in all educational areas. Good for them!
2. Re:How can we get them banned here? (kidding) by invictusvoyd · 2014-03-07 05:20 · Score: 1
  
  I agree. YT streaming kinda sucks . But there's some content there (documentaries and old shows ) which are hard to find anywhere .Even on torrent .
  Try youtube-dl .
  
  __________________________
  /. is my facebook .i.e. I aint got life i.e. I gots brain
Destroy Their Nation? by Jason+Levine · 2014-03-07 05:40 · Score: 1

I'm not a fan of Facebook by any stretch of the imagination. (I still refuse to open an account despite many people I know being on there.) However, if your entire nation can be "destroyed" by Facebook, then perhaps your nation isn't as stable as you think it is and maybe there are deeper issues than people sharing selfies so their friends can "like" them.

--
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
Re:Who names their country by Algae_94 · 2014-03-07 07:04 · Score: 1

Sounds like you answered your own question as Benjamin Franklin was no longer among the living when the Ottoman Empire fell. There were clearly turkeys around in his life.
Par for the course for Muslim countries by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-07 08:19 · Score: 0

Islam seems to be intrinsically inimical to the concept of freedom of speech and thought. Good luck with your EU application, Turkey.
1. Re:Par for the course for Muslim countries by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-07 09:46 · Score: 0
  
  Under Erdogan, they've lost interest. These days, they are much happier trying to regain their lost leadership of the Islamic world. And the Saudis, afraid of Iran, may not stop them this time.
Re:Who names their country by Cimexus · 2014-03-07 09:04 · Score: 1

I don't think it's much to do with narcissism. Since AC posts at 0, you're limiting your audience severely by posting as AC. Even a good comment won't be seen by most (since the default threshold for non-signed-in users is +1 and most registered users probably browse at +1 or +2...)
Is it narcissistic to actually want your post to be seen? I mean, why even comment if no one will see it and/or respond?
Bad loser by tsa · 2014-03-07 09:15 · Score: 1

Mr. Erdogan is a bad loser. Banning social media is just a childish gut reaction to a non-issue if you ask me. If he had just ignored it people would probably have forgotten about it already.

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-- Cheers!
1. Re:Bad loser by tqk · 2014-03-07 11:44 · Score: 1
  
  If he had just ignored it people would probably have forgotten about it already.
  Ah, geez man! You gave away the secret! Why're you helping Erdogan?!? Why do you hate the Turkish people?!?
  
  --
  "Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit ..." -- Pink Floyd.
2. Re:Bad loser by tsa · 2014-03-07 15:07 · Score: 1
  
  Oops. Let's just hope Erdogan doesn't read /....
  
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  -- Cheers!
Re:Who names their country by unixisc · 2014-03-07 09:43 · Score: 1

I'm sure that in Turkish, 'Turkei' doesn't mean the bird
U like it better... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-07 15:24 · Score: 0

On "INVISO-POWER"...
Turkey is that feeble and puny? Really, T.E.? by eric_harris_76 · 2014-03-08 07:07 · Score: 1

If a country can be destroyed by exposure to videos and social media, it's a pretty damn weak, fragile place.
That's probably not what he wants as the subtext, but there it is.

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There's no time like the present. Well, the past used to be.