Turkey: Erdoğan fears 140 characters

The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has slammed Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan over the government's blocking of Twitter during his election rally in the Aegean city İzmir on March 22.

Thousands of CHP supporters who packed Gündoğdu Square in this CHP stronghold welcomed Kılıçdaroğlu, chanting "Prime Minister Kemal." In response, Kılıçdaroğlu said "Inshallah [God willing] it will happen. The first step will be March 30," referring to the upcoming local elections.

"They have banned Twitter. Twitter is mostly used by young people. You have created a prime minister who fears 140 characters," Kılıçdaroğlu said. He continued: "I'm giving him [Erdoğan] a title: He's not an ordinary thief; he is the Thief-in-Chief. And now all the world knows his new title. Have you ever seen another politician who called Twitter 'a trouble' and promised to close down Facebook and Twitter?"

Although Erdoğan "brings shame" on Turkey, Kılıçdaroğlu has claimed, "The ban don't cut no ice with the youth." The number of active Twitter users, as well as tweets, had soared in Turkey since the government blocked access.

Twitter suspends one of the accounts

Meanwhile, Twitter has suspended an account in accordance with the Turkish government's requests, semi-official Anatolian news agency has reported.

The government had listed three court rulings and one prosecutor's order as the source of the blocking on Twitter. One of these cases was related to a Turkish woman's complaint for the removal of her explicit photos shared through an account without her consent.

Lawyer Mehmet Ali Köksal has told daily Hürriyet that Twitter's removal is a routine procedure, while the pro-government media has presented the development as "Twitter's retreat" in the face of Turkish government's increased pressure.

Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç, on the other hand, has signaled that the blocking can be revoked anytime, if Twitter cooperates with Ankara on all issues. After the representatives of both sides met in Ankara, Twitter expressed hope that full access to the website will be returned soon, but the Turkish government keeps closing the backdoors like DNS services and argues that there are hundreds of court rulings Twitter doesn't abide by.