Turkey accuses Wikipedia of 'manipulation,' keeps the ban

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – The Turkish state’s Communication Technologies Authority on Wednesday attacked Wikipedia, charging the online encyclopedia with manipulating the public over recent remarks by the latter’s executive director on a ban by Ankara.

Privately-owned Haberturk news daily claimed that Wikimedia’s director Katherine Maher told the paper that articles Turkey blocked Wikipedia for in April 2017 were now “redacted.”

“We are not sure why the ban is still enforced,” Maher said according to the Wednesday-published interview. “Turkish authorities may not have checked the latest versions of these content.”

Maher swiftly denied the story on her Twitter page.

Answering a question by a user about the report, she said it was “absolutely” not true.

“Those are not accurate quotes,” she said.

Ankara, too, said the content Turkey demanded a redaction for remained as they were.

Articles “State-sponsored terrorism” and “Foreign involvement in the Syrian Civil War” in which Turkey’s support for various Islamist groups was documented were the cause of the ban.

“The illegal content is being examined daily,” the Turkish official communication watchdog said, accusing Wikipedia of slandering the country.

“It is time for Wikipedia to be restored in Turkey. Access to information is a fundamental right,” Maher tweeted.

Users in Turkey can access the encyclopedia through virtual private networks, pirate and mirror websites, some of which have also been blocked.

A practical way of reaching Wikipedia in Turkey is putting a “0” in front of the second-level domain.

Turkey has previously, and on multiple occasions, blocked most popular websites and social media networks such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.

A ban on YouTube in 2008 over videos allegedly insulting the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, lasted for two-and-a-half-years.

In October 2016, Turkey shut down all Internet services in a dozen Kurdish-majority provinces following the arrest of prominent Kurdish politicians.

A report this week by the US-based Freedom House that advocates political and civil liberties downgraded Turkey from “Partly Free” to “Not Free.”

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany