We look at how Ankara's crackdown on social media is creating a firestorm ahead of a critical presidential election.
Last month the Listening Post reported on demonstrations in Turkey over a new internet law which allows the government to unilaterally shutdown any website, without going through the courts.
The law has since claimed its first victims: Twitter and then YouTube. And that has led to an all-out online media war. The timing could not be more important - Turks go to the polls for local elections on March 30, and they are considered critical bellwether ahead of the presidential election later this year.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s opponents say his online clampdown is just a cynical, short term political move and a response to a growing story about government corruption. But Turks have refused to let the ban stop them from getting onto the micro-blogging site.
Talking us through the story this week is Cemalettin Hasimi, the director at the office of public diplomacy; Nagehan Alci, a host on CNN Turk; Fadi Hakura, a fellow at London’s Chatham House; and Bulent Mumay, the digital editor at Hurriyet newspaper.
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