Turkey blocks access to Wikipedia

[B. W.]

I have to say I'm a bit surprised by this:

http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2...ess-wikipedia/

I've never considered Wikipedia an authoritative source as far as politics are concerned, but by in large, they've been a fairly easy and detailed source for many historical and technical research.

Although it is becoming clear that Turkey is becoming a state based on religious law and not individual rights I'm a bit baffled at what is so threatening about Wikipedia.

Can someone enlighten me about what is so threatening about Wikipedia that a government would block access to it?

[IronBrig4]

Turkey's new government can't regulate Wikipedia. Anyone can edit it, including people who might have negative things to say about the current political situation. It's also why Erdogan has previously cracked down on Facebook and Youtube.

[Akrotatos]

Bad news for school kids and uni students in Turkey

[Emperor Arcturus Mengsk]

I don't understand these half measures. Even in North Korea there is a small but existent foreign media market/black market.

They still have international TV and radio stations that may broadcast bad things about Turkey without notice, they still have general internet access to find almost anything, and anyone can probably divert their I.P. source which is not even illegal in order to access Wikipedia from inside Turkey.

This does nothing but show fear of foreign opinion reaching the public, but failing to actually contain anything.

[B. W.]

Turkey's new government can't regulate Wikipedia. Anyone can edit it, including people who might have negative things to say about the current political situation. It's also why Erdogan has previously cracked down on Facebook and Youtube.

I'm aware of all that, but it still seems to be a bizarre reaction for a western leaning government.

I don't understand these half measures. Even in North Korea there is a small but existent foreign media market/black market.

They still have international TV and radio stations that may broadcast bad things about Turkey without notice, they still have general internet access to find almost anything, and anyone can probably divert their I.P. source which is not even illegal in order to access Wikipedia from inside Turkey.

This does nothing but show fear of foreign opinion reaching the public, but failing to actually contain anything.

Turkey has already restricted access to over 110,000 websites, but this seems crazy. What could possibly be threatening to Turkey's government by its citizens having access to Wikipedia?

[PointOfViewGun]

I have to say I'm a bit surprised by this:

http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2...ess-wikipedia/

I've never considered Wikipedia an authoritative source as far as politics are concerned, but by in large, they've been a fairly easy and detailed source for many historical and technical research.

Although it is becoming clear that Turkey is becoming a state based on religious law and not individual rights I'm a bit baffled at what is so threatening about Wikipedia.

Can someone enlighten me about what is so threatening about Wikipedia that a government would block access to it?

Out of all the news sources, you post it from Breitbart, sigh...

Turkey blocks Wikipedia under law designed to protect national security

Turkey has blocked Wikipedia, the country’s telecommunications watchdog has said, citing a law that allows it to ban access to websites deemed obscene or a threat to national security.

Later on Saturday, Turkish authorities said they had sacked more than 3,900 civil servants, and military and police personnel as the purge of alleged anti-government officials continued, and also banned TV dating shows.

The move to close down Wikipedia access is likely to further worry rights groups and Turkey’s western allies, who say Ankara has curtailed freedom of speech and other basic rights in the crackdown that followed last year’s failed coup.

“After technical analysis and legal consideration … an administrative measure has been taken for this website,” the BTK telecoms authority said in a statement on its website.

According to a Turkish source, the reason for the block was made due to entries that put Turkey side by side by terror groups. Apparently the ministry requested the statements to be deleted but Wikipedia refused of course. Then they blocked the website which is strange given that there have been amplitude of content on Wikipedia that AKP government doesn't like to tolerate much.

Nonetheless, it's not something that a simple use of Google or other DNS doesn't solve. They didn't do a hard block which would require a VPN to move around. So, it's mostly an embarrassing move that doesn't have a real effect.

[Gaidin]

I have to say I'm a bit surprised by this:

http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2...ess-wikipedia/

I've never considered Wikipedia an authoritative source as far as politics are concerned, but by in large, they've been a fairly easy and detailed source for many historical and technical research.

Wikipedia isn't a source Turkey doesn't like. Turkey's government is smart enough to be able to tell it's a source for sources Turkey doesn't like.

[AnthoniusII]

All dictatorships try hard to control information. Part of information refers to historical events that could harm the people's morale.
So Turkey needs a "History" that no crime was commited by it, that it was laways victorius, that the lands it demands never belonged to it etc..
Take as example the Islands Italy gave to Greece after WW2. Turkey does not want its people to know the truth. It needs a blind and senceless fanatism that will come from the lack of truth and the ignorance and the sence of injustuce that ignorance will feed!

[ioannis76]

So, it's mostly an embarrassing move that doesn't have a real effect.

This pretty much describes most of what the turkish government is currently doing. .

[bigdaddy1204]

It's simple. The Erdogan government is trying to block access to information so that their propaganda is the only message that is heard. An ignorant, frightened populace is easier to control. This is simply part of Turkey becoming an authoritarian dictatorship. Nothing surprising about it. All dictatorships try to do the same thing. It is sad but there is no crime that the Erdogan government will not stoop to. They are criminal dogs.

I'm a bit baffled at what is so threatening about Wikipedia.Can someone enlighten me about what is so threatening about Wikipedia that a government would block access to it?

This post asks a good question. Thank you for raising this topic.
Wikipedia is threatening because it is a source of objective information that Erdogan and his cronies can't control. The truth is a threat to him, so he wants it destroyed. He doesn't want people to know the facts, because if they did, he would be finished and would end up behind bars, which is where he belongs.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Although it is becoming clear that Turkey is becoming a state based on religious law and not individual rights

This is a tangent not strictly related to the main topic and I don't want to derail the thread, so I'll keep it brief. I take issue with this sentence, above. What's happening in Turkey right now has nothing, absolutely NOTHING to do with Turkey becoming a state based on religious law. The first thing is that if there was religious law in Turkey, Erdogan would be in jail for his many crimes which contradict the whole essence of the Sunnah. The second thing is that one would have to be rather naiive to imagine that Erdogan's rhetoric about religion was anything more than crass political opportunism. He has smelled an opportunity and he is good at exploiting the gullible, the poorly-educated and the credulous. If he thought that Communism, Capitalism, Atheism or any other ism you can think of would secure him more power, he would embrace it at the drop of a hat. This is all about power. Make no mistake about that.

The third thing is that you should look into Erdogan's persecution of the Gulen movement. Those people were actually genuinely guided by religious principles; and what did Erdogan do? He hunted them down, he jailed them, he drove them out, he crushed them with an iron fist. Why? Because they threatened to expose his wrongdoing. Let there be no illusion about Erdogan's true position on religion: he is a deceiver, a hypocrite, a criminal, a thief and a persecutor of the religious. He is an enemy of god, and he will be punished for his arrogance before his time runs out.

[nhytgbvfeco2]

Turkey blocking a website? I'm shocked! say it isn't so!

It's probably because wikipedia doesn't state that muslims discovered america.

[PointOfViewGun]

This post asks a good question. Thank you for raising this topic.
Wikipedia is threatening because it is a source of objective information that Erdogan and his cronies can't control. The truth is a threat to him, so he wants it destroyed. He doesn't want people to know the facts, because if they did, he would be finished and would end up behind bars, which is where he belongs.

Wikipedia is anything but a source of objective information. It's wrong to block Wikipedia but that doesn't whitewash it from its shortcomings.

[Gallus]

Wikipedia is anything but a source of objective information. It's wrong to block Wikipedia but that doesn't whitewash it from its shortcomings.

It's still a better source than any newspaper or TV chanel. Every statement on Wikipedia has to be sourced, so it's easy to tell which entries are and aren't legit.

Censoring sites like Wikipedia is normal for propaganda heavy regimes like Erdogan's.

[PointOfViewGun]

It's still a better source than any newspaper or TV chanel. Every statement on Wikipedia has to be sourced, so it's easy to tell which entries are and aren't legit.

Censoring sites like Wikipedia is normal for propaganda heavy regimes like Erdogan's.

How is it a better source? A newspaper or a TV channel can be a source for an article as well. Every statement on Wikipedia has to be sourced but not all are, nor not all sources are accurately portrayed. This becomes an apparent phenomenon on controversial issues. Wikipedia is a portal where majority opinion (not of the world but of the editors that are active at the time) matters. If there was a Wikipedia at the time Galileo was alive it would have article on how the Earth is flat and Galileo's findings would be portrayed as revisionism.

[Ferdiad]

It's still a better source than any newspaper or TV chanel. Every statement on Wikipedia has to be sourced, so it's easy to tell which entries are and aren't legit.

Censoring sites like Wikipedia is normal for propaganda heavy regimes like Erdogan's.

If you'd ever had to deal with an article protected by one of the established editors you'd realise Wikipedia is more of an oligarchy than whatever it tries to portray itself as. Editors control their little empires and if you try to edit it with verifiable new info you get slapped with the full weight of the Wiki bureaucracy.

[Pinarius]

Turkey blocking a website? I'm shocked! say it isn't so!

It's probably because wikipedia doesn't state that muslims discovered america.

Maybe it's the many articles about battles which the Ottomans lost.

[Påsan]

Wikipedia tries at least to get a good even grasp of the story. This might even make it worse as would-been wiki users are funneled into sites with potentially much less subjective opinions.

[dogukan]

How is it a better source? A newspaper or a TV channel can be a source for an article as well. Every statement on Wikipedia has to be sourced but not all are, nor not all sources are accurately portrayed. This becomes an apparent phenomenon on controversial issues. Wikipedia is a portal where majority opinion (not of the world but of the editors that are active at the time) matters. If there was a Wikipedia at the time Galileo was alive it would have article on how the Earth is flat and Galileo's findings would be portrayed as revisionism.

It is a great source, perhaps one of THE best sources.
It simply has too much content and gets some form of monitoring.
In many scenarios, it at least mentions various other views on a certain topic.

And above all, it is a great starting point to guide a person to other sources which will then lead you to heart of the discussions of a topic.

Basically, thanks to wikipedia, I can delve into ANY TOPIC(without claiming expertise) get a glimpse of various approaches on it and know where to start looking for deeper knowledge.
Turkey is a dictatorship and is perhaps at the lowest level any democracy can be.

[PointOfViewGun]

It is a great source, perhaps one of THE best sources.
It simply has too much content and gets some form of monitoring.
In many scenarios, it at least mentions various other views on a certain topic.

And above all, it is a great starting point to guide a person to other sources which will then lead you to heart of the discussions of a topic.

Basically, thanks to wikipedia, I can delve into ANY TOPIC(without claiming expertise) get a glimpse of various approaches on it and know where to start looking for deeper knowledge.
Turkey is a dictatorship and is perhaps at the lowest level any democracy can be.

It's a source that's open to propaganda. Often, differing views are not shown as differing views but as revisionism. In a best scenario, someone puts an addition that is not based on a source to discredit an entry. Or often, refutation of an allegation is omitted which basically turns the entry into a smear attempt. If these are results of the group of editors, often from the same political or national background, who are following the page actively, then there is nothing you can do about it.

[Prodromos]

Use a proxy site. Problem solved.

It's probably because wikipedia doesn't state that muslims discovered america.

They did...