Turkey has lifted the ban on Wikipedia after a two-year block. However, the post that angered Erdogan seems to have been deleted from Wikipedia.
July 15, 2016, was one of the most important and influential moments in the history of Turkey. That night a failed coup attempt took place, which Erdogan named it “a gift to us from God.” Subsequently, Erdogan gathered all powers in Turkey into his own hands.
Wikipedia, the world’s largest online encyclopedia, added Erdogan’s name after the July 15 coup attempt in the “Dictators’ Self-coup List.”
Then the Erdogan regime banned accessing Wikipedia in Turkey on April 29, 2017. Banning anti-Erdogan websites from broadcasting is a common practice in Turkey.
As of October 2019, the number of websites banned in Turkey is 288 thousand 310.
Wikipedia was the largest website added to this list.
After two years of struggle by Wikipedia lawyers, the Supreme Court ruled for the lifting of the ban on Wikipedia.
With two detained members and Erdogan-appointed sitting members, The Supreme Court surprised everyone with such decision.
However, the truth is ultimately laid bare.
Erdogan’s name had been removed in Wikipedia from the list of leaders, who attempted self-coup.
With this change in the section, that annoyed Erdogan, 13 people’s names remained in the list of “The Post-Cold War Section” of “The list of those who had taken a coup against himself.” Maduro was added to the list with the update, and Erdogan was removed.
“Self-coup”
Wikipedia’s self-censorship is not new for Turkey. Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK), is the Turkish state agency for monitoring, regulating, and sanctioning radio and television broadcasts, and RTÜK started overseeing Netflix in 2019 in Turkey, citing obscene content. Netflix initially opposed it but then agreed due to threats of shut-down.
Twitter is also in cooperation with Turkey on censorship, and thousands of Twitter profiles were blocked to access.
Online publications or other broadcasts encounter access barriers due to swift bans if they introduce question marks with regards to the July 15 coup attempt. This includes the main opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu’s statement: “July 15 coup was a controlled coup.”
What is self-coup?
A self-coup is a form of putsch or coup d ‘état in which a nation’s leader, elected to power by legal means, renders the national legislature powerless or dissolves it and unlawfully assumes extraordinary powers not granted under normal circumstances. After the self-coup, the leader annuls the nation’s constitution or brings a new system by completely changing the former one. At the same time, he suspends the civil courts.