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Turkish Supreme Court annul the ban on access to Wikipedia; the encyclopedia has been blocked since 2017

2019-12-26T15:35:28.099Z


Turkey's supreme court ruled on Thursday the decision to revoke the ban on access to the Wikipedia online encyclopedia.


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(CNN) - Turkey's supreme court ruled on Thursday the decision to revoke the ban on access to the Wikipedia online encyclopedia.

The Turkish Constitutional Court said that the prohibition of full access to Wikipedia "violated the right to freedom of expression guaranteed by article 26 of the constitution."

The court's decision 10-6 ordered a lower court to lift the ban immediately in response to Wikipedia's request, according to state news agency Anadolu.

LOOK: Turkey blocks access to Wikipedia

"Welcome back, Turkey!" Said Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales in a tweet. Wikipedia did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comments.

At the time of writing this, Wikipedia could not be accessed through local Internet providers in Turkey.

Wikipedia had been completely blocked in Turkey since April 2017 by two entries claiming Turkish support from terrorist groups in Syria.

LOOK: Turkey relocates a centuries-old mosque before it is underwater

"They banned access to millions of items due to two entries," said Yaman Akdeniz, a law professor at Bilgi University in Istanbul, who filed a separate individual petition with the higher court to revoke the access ban.

"We believe that consumers have the right to freedom of expression not only through speech, but also to have access to news and information," he told CNN.

"This decision comes 2.5 years too late," Akdeniz said.

The decision comes just when the European Court of Human Rights prepares to hear a request from Wikipedia in Turkey, Akdeniz said.

Wikipedia

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2019-12-26

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