Turkey Now On YouTube

Believe it or not, I am not talking about the impending US holiday that's most often associated with our fine feathered friend. Instead, I speak of the newfound free broadcast YouTube has in the country Turkey, a place where since May of 2008 has been banned there as a result of offensive video hosted on the site. These videos were deemed insulting to Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, but now that they've been removed, Turkey once again can watch all their favorite clips.

Of course, an important point to point out is the statement YouTube made on this event in a statement on Saturday:

"We've received reports that some users in Turkey are once again able to access YouTube...We want to be clear that a third party, not YouTube, have apparently removed some of the videos that have caused the blocking of YouTube in Turkey using our automated copyright complaint process ... We are investigating whether this action is valid in accordance with our copyright policy"

Of course, once the videos are found to be completely fine, they'll go back up and Turkey will bring back out the ban stick. Right? Media watchdog associations and human rights groups have for years now opposed Turkey's restricted internet. Just this past June, human rights group OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) said that Turkey's first pornography-related law has expanded to prevent access to over 5,000 sites. I wonder if we're included?

[Via Reuters]