Turkey’s attempt to block access to Twitter appeared to backfire on Friday with many technology conscious users circumventing the ban amid growing suspicions that the prime minister was using court orders to suppress corruption allegations against him and his government.
Turkey’s telecommunications authority said it had blocked access to the social media network hours after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to “rip out the roots” of the website. Tweets have proliferated with links to recordings that appear to incriminate him and other top officials in corruption.
Lutfi Elvan, Turkey’s minister in charge of transport and communications, said Turkey was merely obeying court orders . Turkey in the past has blocked access to YouTube, but this is the first ban on Twitter, which is hugely popular in the country
