Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have been blocked in Turkey during an ongoing military coup which is attempting to overthrow the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
A Twitter account named “Turkey Blocks,” set up in order to monitor what websites are blocked in the country, tweeted a screenshot showing that three of the largest social media services have been denied access to the country’s internet network.
Reports say that many of Turkey’s internet users are utilising VPN’s, proxies and anonymizing services such as the Tor Browser to gain access to the web and provide information and photos of the ongoing military coup taking place. Users have posted photos of bridges being occupied by armed forces, tanks stationed at Istanbul’s Atatürk airport and footage of low flying jets over the Ankara area.
Censorship of information is common during civil unrest. During the Egyptian protest in 2011, the government completely shut down all internet access. Mass internet shutdown has not yet taken place in Turkey but the possibility of it remains real.
As a precaution, the hacktivist group Anonymous tweeted out details to a free dial-up internet service for use in Turkey. The group attracted worldwide attention during the Arab Spring for securing internet access for anti-authoritarian activists in countries like Egypt and Tunisia.
The following statement was broadcast via local television services by Turkish Armed Forces
“Turkish Armed Forces have completely taken over the administration of the country to reinstate constitutional order, human rights and freedoms, the rule of law and the general security that was damaged. All international agreements are still valid. We hope that all of our good relationships with all countries will continue.”
Lucas Nolan is a Journalism and Media student at Dublin Business School and a regular contributor to Breitbart Tech. He can be contacted via Twitter here: @LucasNolan_
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