Turkey Says “No More YouTube”

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1. rob
   

   March 7th, 2007 at 1:42 pm

   We must fight back.

   Step 1) Ban all use of “Turkey Day.”

2. Marshall Kirkpatrick
   

   March 7th, 2007 at 1:46 pm

   Someone just asked me if SplashCast players would display YouTube videos in Turkey - I’m curious. If you’re in Turkey give this URL a try and let me know: http://web.splashcast.net/cata.....OAMR6025DP

3. Basil
   

   March 7th, 2007 at 1:46 pm

   Luckily YT is now a Google property, it’s going to take their deep pockets to sustain and sort out the continuing mine fields they find themselves in.

   It just go to show if you do one thing right, once and it’s a big one (making search a little better and profiting from it) you can do everything else wrong or stumble with it and your cash cow can get you through.

   Practically everything Big G has done since search (and their search is flawed now) has been a failure or is not the markeet leader.

   Still I’d love that Jet!

   Baz

4. Calvin
   

   March 7th, 2007 at 1:50 pm

   Eat more chicken, that’ll show em…

5. Osman
   

   March 7th, 2007 at 1:57 pm

   it is funny not to be able to reach yt now. (i am from Turkey). We can’t be sentenced to be without ‘youtube’ just because of an idiot person’s insults. It is really funny. But Youtube also has mistake. What? Can’t they delete videos which are with full of hate toward persons or nations? Google bought it and i don’t believe they have even enough editors at all! All videos must be checked out. It is difficult but not impossible for a big company. And the process for ‘flag it’ thing is too slow, i think.

   Another news is as it follows; it has been announced that if Youtube deletes such videos, people from Turkey will be able to reach the site soon.

6. Osman
   

   March 7th, 2007 at 2:00 pm

   By the way, YT is the 7th most visited site in Turkey according to alexa.

   Marshall, i couldn’t see the video in that link but have seen some other videos from other parts of the site.

7. Michael
   

   March 7th, 2007 at 2:02 pm

   Lots of issues here:

   1. The Greek soldiers who were singing those songs are complete morons.

   2. YouTube should not take this down, things like these should be surfaced and addressed

   3. Turkey might have done this in order to not create further instability because of the video, not to punish YouTube. It’s a complicated matter, we can’t just dismiss it as idiotic.

   Michael (from Greece)

8. Randall Z
   

   March 7th, 2007 at 2:09 pm

   Muslim nations are going to continue to have a real problem with modernity if their response to every insult, perceived or real, is this kind of blind, seething rage.

9. Osman
   

   March 7th, 2007 at 2:13 pm

   I can tell you that it has nothing to do with being muslim nation or not, Randall…
   If you had known what people think about Ataturk here, you wouldn’t think so.

   Good points Michael…

   I really don’t understand what kind of pleasure people get when they insult each other in cyber world.. (Of course i don’t mean they should get pleasure in real life lol)

10. Sean
    

    March 7th, 2007 at 2:17 pm

    A country bans all access to a web site, one of the biggest web sites in the world nonetheless, just because someone who is unaffiliated with the company that owns the web site posted something offensive? Wow……….. it’s hard to believe how uptight some people are.

11. Marcus
    

    March 7th, 2007 at 2:28 pm

    woah… Turkey is so web1.0!

12. Nikos Kouremenos
    

    March 7th, 2007 at 2:31 pm

    I am Greek, living in Athens. I of course dislike any hate videos. I really hope this shows to the world what Turkey is and what is the way of thinking.

13. Hakan
    

    March 7th, 2007 at 2:39 pm

    This decision doesn’t represent our way of thinking, Nicos. If you surf around Turkish bloggers, you will notice that… You sound too ’supreme’ btw.

14. Wes
    

    March 7th, 2007 at 2:40 pm

    Would have been interesting to see if they could have done this had they been part of the EU.

15. Amy Wilsch
    

    March 7th, 2007 at 2:46 pm

    That should go over well for their bid to join the EU. Not that everyone in Europe is huge Google fans but still.

16. Pratham Kumar
    

    March 7th, 2007 at 2:47 pm

    India came close to banning Youtube because of a controversial Gandhi pole-dance video. Most legal systems have trouble dealing with user-generated controversies.

    Here’s the video in case you’re curious …
    The Gandhi video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?e.....E9_sBZHu1E

17. Randall Z
    

    March 7th, 2007 at 2:49 pm

    “I can tell you that it has nothing to do with being muslim nation or not, Randall…If you had known what people think about Ataturk here, you wouldn’t think so.”

    The specific issue has nothing to do with Islam, but the general sense being displayed here that it’s a reasonable thing to ban “heretical” dissenting speech is certainly informed by the Islamic sensibilities in Turkey.

18. Richard Carter, FCD
    

    March 7th, 2007 at 2:49 pm

    Turkey is currently trying very hard to become a member of the European Union. A number of European countries have reservations about this - although it’s nothing to do with their being ‘too Muslim’, you understand. Heaven forbid!

    This sort of over-reaction isn’t going to help Turkey’s cause.

19. JD
    

    March 7th, 2007 at 2:53 pm

    I caught myself up on the issue with the article. Still seems ridiculous to me. And Nikos don’t use this to justify any absurd belief you have about Turkish people. That’s just retarded.

20. Randall Z
    

    March 7th, 2007 at 2:57 pm

    As a follow up, I think it’s shocking that the EU would even consider adding a country where you can end up in jail for talking about a genocide that that country perpetrated against another people. Turkey simply does not share the West’s modern values.

21. Randall Z
    

    March 7th, 2007 at 3:01 pm

    “I really hope this shows to the world what Turkey is and what is the way of thinking.”

    “And Nikos don’t use this to justify any absurd belief you have about Turkish people. That’s just retarded.”

    I fail to see the problem with pointing out, as is plainly evident, that the way of thinking in Turkey is to ban negative speech about Ataturk, “Turkishness”, or any speech about the Armenian genocide.

22. Kane
    

    March 7th, 2007 at 3:14 pm

    And these guys wanna join our European Union. Turkey doesnt even know the meaning of the word democracy. Countries, cultures and people insult each other wheter they want it or not. Deal with it or get left back in stone age sheepfuckers! (see, an insult! Maybe Turkey must ban Tech Crunch as well now?)

23. Osman
    

    March 7th, 2007 at 3:18 pm

    So easy to make generalizations, Kane huh?! You and people like you just don’t want to see EU supporters in Turkey. You just look at empty side of the glass. There are many people who want ‘real democracy’ in Turkey. But if you mean ‘the invasion’ with the word ‘democracy’, thanks, let it be yours.

24. Tom-G
    

    March 7th, 2007 at 3:22 pm

    All the Turkish government has accomplished is to make the country look ridiculous.

25. Osman
    

    March 7th, 2007 at 3:27 pm

    well-said Tom!

26. Pong
    

    March 7th, 2007 at 4:06 pm

    @Randall Z, what the f*ck does the fact that Turkey is a “Muslim nation” has to do with the problem? But I guess the tolerance where you live is in no way different from where I live here in Balkans.

    @topic I guess Youtube didn’t deleted the video, because they have not yet opened the political videos section in the “Department of deletion”. They first had to fill porn sections, music video sections, then Champions league sections.

    Greetings from Bulgaria.

27. MovieWalah
    

    March 7th, 2007 at 4:20 pm

    maybe their teenagers will do something useful with their time and not sit all day and watch videos of lonely girl….

28. Randall Z
    

    March 7th, 2007 at 4:29 pm

    “@Randall Z, what the f*ck does the fact that Turkey is a “Muslim nation” has to do with the problem?”

    It has everything to do with the general attitude of aggressively attempting to punish others’ “blasphemy.”

    I have no problem with whatever values Turkey chooses to promote within its own borders, however alien they are to me. I just pointed out that these values are at odds with those of the West, and will certainly cause Turkey difficulties in their dealings with Europe and the rest of the western world.

29. AhmedF
    

    March 7th, 2007 at 4:40 pm

    Hi Randall Z,

    This is TechCrunch, not LGF. Thanks.

30. Joe Duck
    

    March 7th, 2007 at 6:49 pm

    Those Turkies!

31. Rick
    

    March 7th, 2007 at 6:54 pm

    Every hates the turks. They invaded Greece on countless occasions and they tried to wipe the Armenians off the planet during the 1914-1918 Armenian Genocide.

32. David Mackey
    

    March 7th, 2007 at 7:09 pm

    Wow. Don’t think that was a good idea.

33. Tony Chen
    

    March 7th, 2007 at 7:27 pm

    Totally weird IMHO

34. Colleen
    

    March 7th, 2007 at 7:46 pm

    I’m happy I live someplace where I can access any website I want.

35. Osman
    

    March 7th, 2007 at 9:04 pm

    Rick, only people like you hate Turkish people. It is just easy to talk about such things.

36. Michael Arrington
    

    March 7th, 2007 at 9:13 pm

    Rick - that’s a broad statement. I’m certainly not in that group. All of our ancestors perpetrated lots of atrocities.

    Still, they are clearly stuck between Europe and the middle east, culturally as well as geographically.

37. Gustavo
    

    March 7th, 2007 at 9:34 pm

    Ok, let me get this straight…

    So not only did the Greek guys make fun of Turkey, but they also managed to get Youtube blocked on the whole country.

    To me, this is analogous of Brazilians posting a video making fun of Argentinians and then getting Youtube blocked in Argentina. It’s definitely a win-win situation, and would encourage more hate-videos.

    Not that I think hate speech is a good thing, but I’m just trying to show how taking Youtube down will have the opposite effect that Turkey wants.

38. Brian Laks
    

    March 7th, 2007 at 9:56 pm

    First let me start out by saying “ben yalniz biraz turkce konusabiliyorum”. Aside from that I don’t think Turkey should have banned Youtube. But I don’t think the fact that they did gives us a right to bash them as a country. I support their efforts to become a part of the EU, especially if helps increase the prosperity for their people.

39. AhmedF
    

    March 7th, 2007 at 10:53 pm

    So Brazil or China censoring isn’t religious, but Turkey (especially considering the video in question didn’t have anything to do with religion) it must be a religious play.

40. Sami
    

    March 7th, 2007 at 11:13 pm

    It was not a smart thing to do.

    Just like banning the movie “Midnight Express”. I am a Turk and found the chance see this movie in USA, and still haven’t figured out why the movie was banned in my country.

    It’s funny, however, how Turk-Bashers swarm to this sort of topics to puch their adgendas. Get over it!

    Everybody did something in their past. Show me one country that is pure and innocent!

    During the World War I, when Turkish men all over the country joined army to fight the war, Armenians, whom have lived peacefully among us for centuries, have attacked our menless villages, robbed them and raped our women. When the war was over we, possibly, retaliated against them. That’s your so-called Armenian Genocide. Consider this as America’s reply to Pearl Habor. Of course, ours was nearly as drastic as America’s and we were in war with the Armenians.

    Oh well, I am tried now.

41. Stambouliote
    

    March 8th, 2007 at 12:20 am

    Just a few points.

    -Youtube got banned probably because of some outdated law. Many countries face challenges with keeping their laws up-to-date for new technologies. Even in the US we have high-tech legal problems: how to count the votes in Florida? What to do with stem cell research? etc… If Turkey joins the EU, that will be an incentive to update these laws.

    -Rick, Turks did not invade Greece on countless occasions, Greece was part of the Ottoman Empire for 600 years. So there was only 1 occasion.

    The so-called Armenian Genocide is one the greatest hoaxes of the past century, yet, it’s a good way to encourage rich Diaspora Armenians in LA and France to donate money to poverty-ridden Armenia. If Turkey ever wanted to eliminate any nation, it would have done so, during the 600 years of power, not when it was collapsing, and it would not have let them speak their own language or practice their own religion. The Armenian Patriarchate itself was founded by the Turks. The Turkish Sultan founded the Armenian Patriarchate and also, Turks wouldn’t have done other acts of kindness to save people of other nations: wouldn’t have saved Jews from the Spanish Inquisition in 1492, or from the Nazis in 1945 or the Kurdish Peshmerges from Saddam Hussain in 1990s…

    Armenians just in 1990s, attacked Azerbaijanis and created an ethnic enclave in Karabakh. They tried to do the same in Eastern Turkey, by allying with the invading Russian forces in 1914-1918 (WWI). So the Ottoman Parliament-which included Armenians- decided to relocate these people until the war was over. Armenians in Istanbul or other cities were not touched, only the ones that were in proximity to the Russian forces were moved. And this is what they call a genocide. I particularly like the fake movies and photoshopped photos and Google Adwords campaigns promoting the Armenian Genocide very high tech.

42. Murat
    

    March 8th, 2007 at 3:05 am

    The truth is not seems as this.Turkey don’t say anything to youtube, in fact Turktelekom the only one internet service provider in Turkey bans it, everybody must use turktelekoms adsl cuz its only one . and when they ban the websites you cant use the sites , they ban everything that it use by many people like as thepiratebay. megaupload etc. And the other side . i think and im sure . this ban is a work of Doğan Online they have a youtube clone sites in turkey pikniktube.com its a youtube clone and run by this company and azbuz.com its a clone also , ,and ihave read they said on their newspaper hurriyet.com.tr in 2007 the azbuz.com teh their clone sites will be one in Turkey. .so they make news for ban youtube and shows on their tv channnels .. they want to close yotube cuz they have youtube clone .. Doğan Online is a evil company

43. HALUK
    

    March 8th, 2007 at 4:47 am

    Guys I cant belıeve this….. This is wrong really wrong…..

    I am not happy about this as a Turkish citizen!

44. Umit
    

    March 8th, 2007 at 4:49 am

    Stambouliote,

    Thats really great post. I am a Turkish and living in Turkey ..of course cant connect to youtube for a day and even tried to use numerous browser-based anonymity websites.

    Anyway, i’d like to quote somethings from your post.
    “If Turkey joins the EU, that will be an incentive to update these laws.”

    and I’d like to ask a question to everyone that

    Should we update our laws because of EU or Turkish people who live in Turkey?

45. ThinkMan
    

    March 8th, 2007 at 7:07 am

    The real shame here is that Turks will have to wait until a rerun of The Family Guy to see the “prom night dumpster baby” bit again… hmmm do you think they get FOX?

46. Abbey
    

    March 8th, 2007 at 7:53 am

    “The so-called Armenian Genocide is one the greatest hoaxes of the past century”

    Hope you don’t live in France!

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6043730.stm

47. m johnson
    

    March 8th, 2007 at 8:13 am

    The difference between other atrocities and the Turk’s deliberate attempt to wipe out the entire Armenian race, is that other countries such as Germany with the Holocaust were courageous enough to admit it and apologized for their crime. Whereas Turkey to this day denies it every occurred and hides behind its reason of small massacres in a war between the two countries at the time. Where did the 1.5million Armenians disappear to? The more the truth is denied, the more people will rally to fight for the cause. Why is it a criminal offence (Article 301) to bring these things up? For what part of “Turkishness” was Hrant Dink murdered and the perpetrator proudly holding up the Turkish flag with smiling police officers during the “interrogation”?

    Seems censoring democracy and free speech are non existent characteristics of a backwards society. Is blocking YouTube just because some Greeks made a video about Turks rational in this modern information age?
    The world thinks it is time to grow up and time to accept the truth

48. Stambouliote
    

    March 8th, 2007 at 10:00 am

    m johnson, nice non-Armenian name, good job on selecting a good pseudonym.

    If a country decides to kill its own people, it doesn’t kill half of them and love the rest. Turks and Armenians live happily in Turkey and have been living together for the past 1000 years. At the end of the Ottoman Empire, the Armenians tried to separate and create their own country but failed. That’s the story. The numbers are fictitious, made up, and there is no proof. If 1.5 million people were killed, you would need quite a space to hide the bones. Where are the bones? The reality is, Armenians are a small population in this world, and a genocide is the best way to keep the culture alive, and it’s being done at the expense of the Turks.

    Hrant Dink was killed by a fascist fanatic group, and it is sad. Hundreds of thousands of Turks marched down the streets of Istanbul and showed their sorrow for such an event. That is not the attitude towards Armenians in Turkey, in fact, according to the Armenian Patriarchate, 50.000 Armenians from Armenia now work and live and earn their primary income while working in Turkey although I believe there are no diplomatic ties between Armenia and Turkey.

    Blocking YouTube in Turkey, was a competitive move by Dogan Holding, which is a media conglomorate which holds most of the media in Turkey. They have started buying, investing, and building crappy websites to take over the Internet market in Turkey, to increase their overall control and valuation for a potential sale. They have a product called Pikniktube.com which sucks, this was a way to kill the competition.

    Let’s not attack Turkey with this Armenian Genocide hoax each time something bad happens in Turkey.

    Also, Armenian-state-sponsored terrorist organization ASALA killed all of Turkey’s diplomats and ambassadors in Europe and in the United States in 1960s. Diplomats killed by Armenia-sponsored terrorist organization ASALA
    This is how modern Armenians are.

    Also, the law they passed in France last year, is in itself a disaster for freedom of speech in France. In France, Switzerland, if you deny the Armenian Genocide, you can lose your job, you can get imprisoned. And Armenian Genocide is not even a proven fact, and this blocks historians from even discussing whether it happened or not.

49. Adriel Arrasmith
    

    March 8th, 2007 at 10:06 am

    Try Gizlio.com

50. Adriel Arrasmith
    

    March 8th, 2007 at 10:06 am

    Click on my name for link for everyone in Turkey

51. mohamed
    

    March 8th, 2007 at 10:18 am

    Randall and others : You can’t blame Turkey being “Muslim” or “Islamic values” for this sheer act of craziness. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Atturtuk was the “great” Turkish nationalist who tried to purge any “Islam” and “Arab Culture” from Turkish society.

    I’m sure that many Muslims actually get excited when you start insulting him - they surely wouldn’t ban you.

52. george
    

    March 8th, 2007 at 10:52 am

    orospu evlatları…

53. m johnson
    

    March 8th, 2007 at 11:02 am

    It’s amusing seeing the same “so-called” nationalistic mindset and disinformation that is brainwashed into the minds of so many constantly regurgitated over and over by people who were never there, who have not studied official documents (maybe because immense effort has been made since 1915 to destroy the facts and hide the truth), and constantly reiterate a fabricated truth until they believe it to be fact.

    I’ve said what I had to say. Back to technology reports Michael…

54. Jake
    

    March 8th, 2007 at 1:22 pm

    wow. this is exactly what I predicted on my blog. The censure of YouTube has created more negative press for Turkey in 2 days and Turks than could have been generated by 2 years of racist videos on YouTube.

    As I said on my site, Aferim! (way to go!)

55. Osman
    

    March 8th, 2007 at 2:04 pm

    It is surprising to read what C.Hurley wrote… It is not a matter of Turkey, i think. I won’t be surprised if i see more matters like this.

56. Ozzy Benn
    

    March 8th, 2007 at 2:09 pm

    “Ne Mutlu Türküm Diyene”

57. istanbulexpat
    

    March 8th, 2007 at 3:07 pm

    As someone who lives in Turkey, I and many other people are very embarrassed by what has been done. Again, we shoot ourselves in the foot.

    I find it also ironic that Turks are actually defending the ruling on Techcrunch of all places.

    By the way, currently there is a Turk being put on trial in Switzerland, a very western country for “denying the Armenian genocide”. Turks support that freedom of speech, I wonder why they can’t support the other?

58. Jacky
    

    March 8th, 2007 at 4:40 pm

    I’m living in Turkey and looking this whole thing with my mouth wide open??
    First to the government: What were you thinking? shoot, u serious? first ban youtube then what ban the other tons of webpages? ban internet, ban speaking, ban thinking?!? ban speaking, ban breathing?? Everyone has rights to say anything like it or not.. If you dont like it dont read it or watch it pretty simple huh? but no one has right to ban anything IMO.
    Secondly to the crowd: Are you serious? Come on!! Cant you see this is just a play of the media. More selling news, more selling paper, more watching news? Are you “that” fool not to see this and be a part of it?
    2 kids are playing with some video sharing web site, posting silly vids and everybody is punished for those 2 kids.. come on grow a bit.. just dont watch it if you dont like it. who knows there are tons of other things that you might actually not like to see over the internet? Are you going to ban the internet for everybody living in Turkey?? Now everybody is just laughing at us because you are just not smart for a grown up even for a 10 year old..
    People are trying to save the world, the killings, the bad things, the pollution etc. but we, we are dealing with the kid stuff!!.. we got lots of more miles to go..

59. deniz
    

    March 8th, 2007 at 5:30 pm

    kurban olurum ATAMA.

60. My website
    

    March 9th, 2007 at 8:30 am

    Is my website working for anyone in turkey?

61. Sarah
    

    March 9th, 2007 at 8:39 am

    I live in Turkey and I can still go on YouTube so I dont think their so called plan is working!!! BTW does anyone know what is the URL to this ‘offensive’ video??

62. Sumeyye
    

    March 9th, 2007 at 3:39 pm

    YEAH WHATS THE URL to this ‘offensive’ video??

63. sseldne
    

    March 9th, 2007 at 10:28 pm

    here is the link to this video

    http://www.metacafe.com/watch/.....ing_turks/

64. Hugo
    

    March 9th, 2007 at 11:23 pm

    why pople not write truth

    in turkey if you kill somone you get 2 years in prison
    if you swear ATATURK you get 20 years

    if you hungry and poor and teaf bread in shop you get 20 years
    but if you rob bank and if you rich you are the king even if you go to prison not more than 2 years when i said prison you are in the 5 star hotel

    i dont think so 1 stupid video make youtube ban

    turkey get internet 22.gbs and 15 or 20 million user using internet
    so not enoughf bandwith pople keep posting forum complain about low bandwith paying too much turktelecom only the internet provider i think they play some political game

    or 2 reason dogan holding which is he got all media like newspaper, tv
    now start action in internet which is pikniktube somethink like youtube
    another one izlesene which is partner of doganholding they got clone of youtube

    in turkey there is no goverment only dummy the goverment is mafia simple pay money do what ever you like

    poor is always poor
    rich always rich there is no middle.

    also in turkey if you write or say anythink true you instead terorist fan of (pkk). turkish say pkk = terorist kurdish say pkk = gerilla

    soory for bad english

65. sseldne
    

    March 10th, 2007 at 7:40 am

    Here’s a greek video insulting Ataturk.

    http://grouper.com/video/Media.....89%26fx%3d