Brussels, 03/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 3 April, the Islamic Conservative government in Turkey had still not lifted the block on the twitter Network, as ordered on Wednesday by the Constitutional Court.
In a ruling made on Wednesday, the most senior legal institution in Turkey unanimously decided that the ban on the micro-blogging network was a violation of constitutional law on the freedom of expression and it ordered that it be immediately unblocked. The Court's decision applies to the Turkish telecommunications authority (TIB) and was published on Thursday morning. The TIB blocked access to the Twitter network during the night of 20-21 March, as instructed by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who decided to put an end to the daily internet broadcasts containing accusations of corruption committed by his regime and himself.
The opposition has protested at the delay in executing the Court's decision.
On Thursday, the European Commissioner for Enlargement, Stefan Füle, welcomed the decision by the Constitutional Court and described it as, “good news… I will be delighted that it is applied as soon as possible”.
The US company Twitter also welcomed the decision and in a press release published on its Twitter site stated that, “we… hope that access to Twitter will soon be restored in Turkey, where the network has around 12 million users”.
Despite the accusations of corruption weighing over him, Erdogan largely won last Sunday's council elections that are crucial for his political future. He will now be able to announce his candidacy for next August's presidential elections. (LC)