Turkey's blockage of access to Wikipedia, 2017–2020
The Turkish Wikipedia logo with a censor bar covering the textThe logo displayed after the two-year anniversary of the ban, with the message "2 yıldır özlüyoruz" (English: "we've been missing it for two years")A graph of page views for the Turkish Wikipedia from February to May 2017 shows a great drop of roughly 80% immediately after the block was imposed. With Wikipedia's content being open, alternative websites continued to provide the information provided by the online encyclopedia to the public until the lifting of the ban in January 2020.Error page when attempting to visit Wikipedia on the Chrome browser in Turkey during the ban. In addition, the browser says the connection is "not secure".
From 29 April 2017 to 15 January 2020, the online encyclopedia Wikipedia was blocked in Turkey. On 29 April 2017, Turkish authorities blocked online access to all its language editions throughout the country.[1][2] The restrictions were imposed by Turkish Law No. 5651,[3] due to the English version's article on state-sponsored terrorism (in the version of 29 April 2017), where Turkey was described as a sponsor country for the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda. Turkish courts viewed the article as a public manipulation of mass media.[4] Requests by the Turkish Information and Communication Technologies Authority to edit several articles to comply with Turkish law were not acted on.
Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director Katherine Maher said in May 2018 that the Foundation was "not sure why there is still a ban".[5] In March 2018, Wikipedia's Facebook page started the "We Miss Turkey" (Turkish: Özledik) campaign and replaced the black censor bar over the Wikipedia logo with a red one. It also had an accompanying hashtag of the same name.[6]
On 26 December 2019, the Constitutional Court of Turkey ruled that the block of Wikipedia violated human rights and ordered it to be lifted.[7] On 15 January 2020, the block of Wikipedia in Turkey was lifted.[8][9][10]
^"Wikipedia blocked in Turkey". Turkey Blocks. 29 April 2017. Archived from the original on 1 May 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
^"Turkish authorities block Wikipedia without giving reason". BBC News. 29 April 2017. Archived from the original on 29 April 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
^"İNTERNET ORTAMINDA YAPILAN YAYINLARIN DÜZENLENMESİ VE BU YAYINLAR YOLUYLA İŞLENEN SUÇLARLA MÜCADELE EDİLMESİ HAKKINDA KANUN" [Turkish law based ban of Wikipedia] (PDF). mevzuat.gov.tr (in Turkish). Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 August 2017. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
^Benjakob, Omer (26 April 2018). "Revealed: The Four Articles That Got Wikipedia Banned in Turkey". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 14 January 2020. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
^"Wikipedia 'still not sure' why it is still banned in Turkey". Hurriyet. Istanbul. 17 January 2018. Archived from the original on 16 May 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
^"Wikipedia'dan kampanya: Türkiye'yi özledik". NTV.com.tr (in Turkish). 6 March 2018. Archived from the original on 6 March 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
^McKernan, Bethan (26 December 2019). "Turkey's Wikipedia block violates human rights, high court rules". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 26 December 2019. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
^"Wikipedia ban to be lifted after top court ruling issued". Daily News. Archived from the original on 16 January 2020. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
^"Wikipedia erişime açıldı, ancak BTK'nın uyguladığı bir karar bulunamıyor". Diken. 15 January 2020. Archived from the original on 15 January 2020. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
^"Özlemiştik: Wikipedia, Türkiye'de Tekrar Erişime Açıldı". Webtekno. Archived from the original on 15 January 2020. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
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