Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government informed mobile phone operators and internet service providers of its decision to block YouTube, the Hurriyet newspaper reported on its website.
The move came a day after a court ordered a suspension of the Twitter ban.
The foreign ministry slammed the latest leak as a "vile attack" and "espionage" against the country's national security.
It added that it was a "natural practice" by the state to discuss how to protect Turkish property from "terrorist elements" but added that some part of the conversation had been "distorted".
Erdogan, whose party faces key local elections Sunday, has been dogged by a string of leaks, including apparent wire taps suggesting a major corruption scandal, which have gone viral on Twitter and other social media.
Turkish court orders lifting of Twitter ban - report
A Turkish court Wednesday ordered the lifting of last week's Twitter ban which came after the social media site was used to spread audio recordings implicating Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in corruption.The administrative court in Ankara will inform the telecommunications regulator TIB, which is expected to grant access to Twitter in the coming hours, private NTV television said.
Commenting on the reaction of the European countries on the decision to close an access to Twitter in Turkey, Prime Minister Erdogan urged the EU to "mind its own business". Popular social networking and microblogging service Twitter has been blocked in Turkey because it does not execute the court decisions, according to the Erdogan’s interview. It is exclusively the internal matter of Turkey, he stressed.
"What we did is our internal matter. There are court rulings for that. Why does the EU ignore what’s going on in other countries? It should treat us the same way it treats others," – stated Erdogan.The Turkish Prime Minister explained that tens and hundreds of requests to delete accounts and messages in Twitter come from France, Germany, Great Britain, United States, Russia, India. Erdogan said that most of these requests are implemented.
"Turkey wants to close only two profiles. We send court orders, but they (Twitter) don’t hear us. Can you expect the same good intentions from me? There’s only one option left – to block (the website)," Erdogan said.Erdogan called the EU’s reaction unjustified as the European countries had criticized Turkey, saying that such decision violates human rights.
When speaking about freedoms, in his opinion, Turkey is long way ahead of the EU countries. "Most of these countries do not have the freedom of speech that we have here (in Turkey). A person can say whatever he wants about a prime minister. You cannot do the same there (in the EU countries)," Erdogan said. In similar situations in Europe the authorities were fast to sanction those who criticize them, says the prime minister.
Erdogan emphasized that Turkey would act decisively when it’s up to the social networks if they refuse to comply with the legal decision on closing profiles and blocking certain content. - voiceofrussia
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