Srikanth Srinivasa of International Business Times is reporting that some Google services have been banned in Turkey.
"The banned IP addresses include translate.google.com, books.google.com, Google-analytics.com, tools.google.com and docs.google.com."
"When some of the services of Google are accessed by people, Turkey ISPs have redirected its users with a message that says 'access to this site is banned by court order' without giving further details."
It is unclear to me from the story if there is a problem with google web search.
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/27221/20100607/turkey-internet-google.htm
slashdot: http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/06/07/2323240/Turkey-Has-Reportedly-Banned-Google?from=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot+%28Slashdot%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher
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I should have explained it properly, rather then just giving bunch of links. Sorry about that. In my humble opinion, Google ban in Turkey has political reasons and this is why:
Over the last week the biggest news concerning Turkey were related to scandal about Gaza Flotilla and serious allegations made by Turkish PM in the UN against Israel. On the 3rd of June three most viewed videos on YouTube contained documented footage of the aforementioned events, invalidating Turkish allegations. On the 4th of June, YouTube site was banned in Turkey.
Although it could be a coincidence there is no other obvious reasons for the ban, therefore it would be reasonable to assume that these events are related.
Just adding to the story:
One of the videos in question: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYjkLUcbJWo
Potential reason for YouTube ban:
Criticism in Turkey: Erdogan knew Gaza sail would be violent: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3902451,00.html |
I'd call such an alleged chain of causes (Israel boards a Turkish vessel, so Turkey retaliates by blocking some Google services) a very farfetched hypothesis with little correlation to reality-as-we-know-it™.
> Although it could be a coincidence there is no
> other obvious reasons for the ban [THAT YOU
> KNOW OF], therefore it would be reasonable
> [ON THE CONTRARY, IT WOULDN'T BE] to
> assume that these events are related.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation_does_not_imply_causation |
What planet do you live on that a heavy-handed government blocking YouTube because there are videos on the service that refute an official governmental stance is far-fetched? It certainly isn't this planet, where such things happen quite often. |
The idea that Turkey would block Google to save face is all too realistic. |
Hurriyet Daily News has a report from Bloomberg.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=turkish-minister-urges-google-to-register-as-taxpayer-2010-06-08
"Turkey’s communications minister called on Google Inc. to register as a taxpayer in the country, a step he said would help accelerate the lifting of a ban on the company’s Youtube video-sharing website."
The Register also has a report.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06/08/turkey_bans_google_services/ |
From the above-quoted Bloomberg report:
"[...] Youtube has been banned in Turkey since 2008 when a court ruled that a video on the site had insulted the nation's founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. [..]"
That's more like it, but what possible connection would it have to the twice-deleted video link of a scuffle onboard a ship outside Gaza that's alleged to be the Exhibit "A" here?
Google is in Turkey, and they're not registered as tax subjects? That's news to me:
Turkey: Google Istanbul
Google Advertising and Marketing Ltd Sti
Kanyon Ofis Binasi Kat. 6
Buyukdere Cad. No. 185
Levent, Istanbul 34394
[ http://www.google.com/corporate/address.html] |
[I brought back some of the links posted by Hniu which were deleted, and removed some of the discussion about that deletion (this is not about whether I agree or disagree with them, by the way). I will now let this thread cool down a bit. Thanks everyone! -Philipp] |
