Why is Wikipedia Blocked in Turkey Despite Constitutional Court Judgment?

Wikipedia has been blocked in Turkey for over two years. (Photo: Susma)

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Two law professors yesterday (December 30) applied to a court, requesting the immediate removal of the block on Wikipedia, which has been banned in Turkey since April 29, 2017.

The General Assembly of the Court on December 26 ruled by a vote of 10 to 6 that the full access block to Wikipedia is a violation of freedom of expression.

CLICK - Constitutional Court: Access Block to Wikipedia Violates Freedom of Expression

Prof. Dr. Yaman Akdeniz from the Internet Freedom Association and Assist. Prof. Kerem Altıparmak stated in their application to Ankara 1st Penal Court of Peace that Wikipedia has not been opened to access and that the local court does not have to wait for the top court ruling to be written.

'The delay aggravates the violation'

The delay aggravates the violation and "the only thing that needs to be done" is to remove the access block, Akdeniz told bianet.

Because the top court made the decision by a majority vote, it's writing has not yet been completed, he said, adding that the court usually writes reasoned decisions within 15 days or three weeks in some cases.

However, the situation does not necessitate the penal court of peace to examine the reasoned decision as the Constitutional Court published the judgment on the website, Akdeniz noted.

They applied to the penal court of peace "as a party to the application to the Constitutional Court," the professor added.

The top court had given a ruling in 20 days regarding the ban on Twitter in 45 days for the ban on Youtube and stated that all courts, including itself, must urgently give a ruling in similar cases on social media platforms.

Constitutional Court gave the ruling after ECtHR's move

"Because, in such cases, not only a past article but also lots of future content gets blocked.

"However, we made our application regarding Wikipedia to the Constitutional Court in April 2017. It has been almost three years. The Constitutional Court never took this application to examination as a priority."

The Constitutional Court began to examine the Wikipedia case only after the ECtHR put the application on its agenda, and declared this to the government in July, Akdeniz said.

"Our application was combined with the application of the Wikimedia Foundation. The opinion of the Ministry of Justice came in October. We replied that and as a result of this communication, the Constitutional Court made this decision.

"Had the ECtHR made a decision before the Constitutional Court, it would once again give a judgment that there is no effective domestic remedy in Turkey. Because the Constitutional Court and the government did not want to find themselves in such a situation, [the court] quickly gave a judgment.

If the access block to Wikipedia is removed, the ECtHR will "shelve" the application, Akdeniz said.

"It will give a ruling, but the period will be extended to two or three years because the urgency is removed. But if the access block continues, the ECtHR will make a decision within two to three months." (HA/VK)