Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Image via Wikimedia Commons
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on the ban of two of the most-visited websites on the internet, Facebook and YouTube, because of attacks made against him on the social media sites.
Having previously been heralded as one of the more technology-minded politicians with his impressive hologram display to voters ahead of the general election on 30 March, Erdogan has taken a number of steps back with this recent announcement.
Erdogan has been coming under increasing pressure from the public and media alike regarding allegations of corruption after a leaked recording supposedly revealed Erdogan discussing with his son how to hide enormous sums of money.
Speaking on Turkish television, the prime minister, who has been in power since 2003, said of the websites: “We will not leave this nation at the mercy of YouTube and Facebook. We will take the necessary steps in the strongest way.”
Erdogan later went on to describe the sites as containing “all kinds of immorality, all kinds of espionage”.
This is not the first time Turkey and Erdogan has banned websites and has been sceptical of any activity which he has perceived to be as negative to him and his Islamic-based Justice and Development Party.
YouTube had previously been under a two-year ban until 2010, because of material deemed insulting to the country’s still-revered founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
