‘We’ll eradicate Twitter,’ vows Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan

[Bosonic]

Source: Hurriyet Daily News

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has vowed to close down Twitter, two weeks after saying he would shut down Facebook and YouTube “if necessary.”

“We now have a court order. We’ll eradicate Twitter. I don’t care what the international community says. Everyone will witness the power of the Turkish Republic,” Erdoğan said at his campaign rally in the western city of Bursa on March 20, 10 days before the upcoming local elections.

On Feb. 25, Erdoğan had accused a “robot lobby” of targeting the government through Twitter messages, while strongly denying the authenticity of new phone recordings leaked onto the Internet and implicating his government in corruption allegations.

During the Gezi Park protests last June, Erdoğan described the microblogging website as a “trouble,” claiming that “unmitigated lies are there [on Twitter].”

Read more: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/well-eradicate-twitter-vows-turkish-prime-minister-erdogan.aspx?pageID=238&nID=63884&NewsCatID=338

---

[Democracyinkind]

1. "We'll eradicate what little political legitimacy we have left by attacking those few forums of...

... actual free speech that technology has provided to our subjects.. cough, cough... I meant citizens..."

[iandhr]

2. A quote from Erdogan

"Democracy is like a tram. You ride it until you arrive at your destination, then you step off"

[svpadgham]

19. A bunch of rich white folks in the USA agree with him.

Some members of the religious right also.

[C_U_L8R]

3. Good luck on that venture !

Like trying to stop waves from coming to shore.

[CFLDem]

4. What a head case!

[DetlefK]

5. Erdogan didn't deny that it's his voice on the tapes...

His official story is that the incriminating conversations were spliced together... which they are not, according to experts who had a look into them.

[jakeXT]

11. Turkish airlines was his advisor

In a tape posted on YouTube, Mehmet Karatas, an assistant executive of the airline, allegedly tells Mustafa Varank, an advisor to Erdogan, that he feels guilty over national flag carrier's arms shipment to Nigeria.

"I do not know whether these (weapons) will kill Muslims or Christians. I feel sinful," Karatas is allegedly heard saying

http://news.yahoo.com/turkish-airlines-allegedly-ships-arms-nigeria-tape-reveals-202353840.html

[TygrBright]

6. ummm.... Right.

How long before "trending on Twitter" includes a couple of these hashes:

#ErdoganFantasy
#ErdoganTwitterSlayer
#Twiturk

Any bets?

Wow. Talk about divorced from reality...

amusedly,
Bright

[Deep13]

7. Suuuure you will. nt

[sofa king]

8. I know where this is going.

"It is with deep sorrow that we pause to announce the total destruction of Acapulco. This flash comes to you courtesy of Interworld Transport, Proprietary, the Triple-S Lines: Speed-Safety-Service." Robert Heinlein, Friday, 1983

[ForgoTheConsequence]

9. That country is moving backward.

At a rapid pace.

[ballyhoo]

15. Yes, it is.....

Last Tuesday I did my Turkish friend's taxes. He's been in the US for 20 years but he still goes back to Turkey several times a year to see his parents. He talked about Erogan briefly. Says he is as mean and crazy as they come. The people hate him. But, he apparently knows how to get things done no matter who he has to destroy. So, if he says he try to get rid of Twitter, maybe he will--or at least try. I don't belong to Twitter or Facebook and never will, so I have no knowledge of them. But I have heard a lot about Erogan from my friend Omer.

[sakabatou]

10. You may be able to shut them down in your country

But Youtube and Twitter will still be alive.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

12. He's about to learn a game that I like to call Meet The Internet, Asshole

It happens on a weekly basis--some douchebag somewhere decides to say something really out of line, whether misogynistic, racist, bullying, etc. And then he gets to Meet the Internet, which is never a pleasant thing in this context. And then he denies he ever said anything of the sort. And then he issues a non-apology apology. I haven't checked yet, but I'm sure Twitter has already shredded this guy thoroughly.

[Orsino]

13. "Nietzsche is dead." --God. n/t

[dreamstst]

14. Except that Erdogan isn't Nietzsche and Twitter isn't God.

[bemildred]

16. Derp. nt

[Tommy_Carcetti]

17. But they can't touch Deer.

[dipsydoodle]

18. According to RT News Twitter was shut down in Turkey hours later.

Turkey has blocked Twitter hours after embattled Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan threatened to close it down ahead of a key election, after audio recordings purportedly demonstrating corruption among his associates were posted on the social network.

Just before midnight, access to the social network was blocked, Hurriyet Daily reports.

http://rt.com/news/erdogan-wipe-out-twitter-181/

[Berlin Expat]

21. I have friends

in Turkey, and they're able to Tweet even with the shutdown. They just tweaked their DNS or went through VPN's.

They were down for about one hour or so, and then they were back on Twitter.

[pffshht]

24. @RT_Erdogan

İyi Şanslar, ben yedi proxy arkasında değilim

[Fred Sanders]

20. How exactly have Twitter and Facebook given people more freedom?

Seems to me they have done nothing but lower the level of discourse and increased the level of idiocy and anger.

Good riddance.

[Throd]

23. Communication bad!

[fujiyama]

28. That's not the point

This is about an authoritarian regime shutting down a popular medium of communication.

Twitter and Facebook were both greatly utilized by Egyptians in organizing protests that led directly to the fall of Mubarak. Of course Erdogan remembers that and fears any threat to his power.

[Bosonic]

30. They are major conduits of communication

People might gossip on a basic phone, so it's ok to (attempt to) ban access to them too?

[yuiyoshida]

22. Oh please sir!!! Do not BOMB Twitter...

Where will I get my JROCK fan fix?


Or my CRAVINGS for popcorn!!!

[Jesus Malverde]

25. Erdogan, terrorist supporter #1

Where are the fucking drones when you need them.

[mackerel]

26. But can he eradicate in a 140 characters or less?

[muriel_volestrangler]

27. Twitter ban: Turkey's President Gul challenges PM's move

President Abdullah Gul has challenged a ban on Twitter in Turkey after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to "wipe out" the micro-blogging service.
...
But like many others, President Gul evaded the ban to tweet that the "shutdown was unacceptable."
...
President Gul took to the site on Friday to say that websites should only be blocked if courts found they had violated personal privacy.

He said it was not "technically possible to totally block access to platforms used all over the world" and added that he hoped the decision would "not last long."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26681236

[itsrobert]

29. There goes all the fans of KEIB The Patriit 1150 Facebook page

Most are paid 'likes' from Turkey.