But what can people do, here in Turkey, where I, turkish-american, am visiting for the first time, to stop, resist, or protest this ban? It was not quickly resolved, this article is over a year and a half old! I am so sad not to be able to share the films I've made in states, of a purely artistic.

Yasemin, Istanbul/San Francisco,

I hate that censor. But government is not responsible for that, the only problem is our juristic system. Because our judges are old people and they do not know what is "internet". Also I hate "banned in Turkey" banners with Turkish flag, Turkish people also hate that censor.

Mücahit Senol, Istanbul,

Jessica is a Turkish American, and she says she supports the ban, because of what was shown on YouTube. I am Greek, and I feel sorry for the stupid insults some Greeks made to Turkey- they are not the majority- just some stupid guys. Nevertheless, restraining freedom of speech is no solution.

Fivos, Athens,

I am Turkish American and when visiting Turkey I found that the site was blocked. At first I was mad and and very confused because in America we have freedom of speech and press and nothing like this could ever happen there. But after researching what happened I think Turkey did the right thing.

Jesika, FL, USA

The funny thing is that Turkey is quite happy to give up N.Cyprus from the Greek terrorist group EOKA that the world didn't save the Turkish Cypriots from ethnic cleansing but get so wound up about a YouTube video they ban the site.

The simple truth is Ataturk was the LAST intelligent leader!

Robin, London, UK

Well it is a draconian response to a fairly universal problem. The problem is that many people who contribute to You Tube are really offensive. I would say that the comments on You Tube are largely unnecessary and if removed would solve this and other disputes.

Sarah, London, UK

I am American-Greek and I think that Turkey did the right thing by blocking YouTube. I think Greece should to do the same so that people will learn to quit the negativity and move on. The great the thing about YouTube is being able to listen and watch Greek and Turkish musicians playing together.

CJ, Florida, USA

youtube should not of put insults on the web but the turkish gov should not had block it because more and more people will still do they should just put the people in court. it a far better idear

natty, izmir, turkey

Welcome to Turkey the police state!
: (

Ismail, Antalya, Turkey

Its the 23rd of march today, and the ban is still present. Rumor has it, the owner of nearly all media in Turkey, the head of Dogan Holding, initiated the band in order to relieve all other -Dogan-founded- video platforms from the competition. Yet another rumor is that the ban is permanent.

Can, Istanbul, Turkey

Just to say, youtube is still blocked. It doesn't seem to have occurred to the courts, generals (who tell the courts what to do anyway) and govt, that blocking the site only gives power to those who's views they dislike. Stupid stupid stupid.

David, Istanbul, Turkey

I for one thin that Telekomünikasyon Iletişim Başkanlığı should rethink what they have done, because if we can't handle insults made by strangers or freedom of speech, I think the EU is right about not inviting us. As soon as they lift that ban I'm going to post a video on Youtube about Turkey

Ahmet, Istanbul, Turkey

This ban is simply pathetic. Turkey, and Turks, generally have huge chips on their shoulders and rush to defend the indefensible with anything connected with the country. Banning YouTube just because of a few stupid videos claiming Turks and Ataturk are gay is the act of a weak nation.

David, Istanbul, Turkey

I would delete lots of videos myself like racist, porno and etc.One thing we can do is to report the video to youtube team and ask them to delete. Other is to require the help of specialist to try to find the person who is loading criminal videos. But block the whole website is not fair!

Mariana Gökel, Istanbul, Turkey

I cant say everything is perfect in Turkey as a Kurdish citizen of the country. I like my country, but as seen from youtube case it is not free, especially for Kurds. I believe in a more democratic more free Turkey. But without accepting faults we can never achieve this.

serdar turan, Konya, Turkey

What does freedom of speech mean? For example, if i say your leaders are pigs and dogs, can it be under its meaning? Is it a right of mine? Is it about freedom of speech? Another example, if i want to destroy your country, seperate it into 2 parts and make videos related this idea, can you say "its my right", "it's freedom of speech"?

You are trying to be sympathetic but first you need to empathy. If you don't think these are not related to freedom of speech, try to be fair in your news and comments.

Ahmet, Aksaray, Turkey

the boy wihch was accused to be the murder of Hrand Dink was not trated as a hero in the pılica station. Billions of people came out with posters saying "we are all hrant dink" Anyway ı will cut short.

None of the nations on the world are pure clear, (maybe except Aborigine's, Indiana's etc.) especially the west, so called first world nations.

Everything is about power-money, some one comes out recognizes the potential of the Turkish nation which could be dangerous for "their" "advantage" so they start to show Turkey to the world as a barbarian, uncivilized nation, so everybody begins to belittle them. Is it enough? No, lets start some fight between their neighborhoods (Greece,Armenian etc) and even them selfs!(Kurds) juust like Tibet or Kosovo, Irak, Russia etc etc. And so the nation will split and more easy to control... They even control you.

And "we" are just stupid to fall into such games which even a 20 year old student can see...

Can Atilla, Istanbul, Turkey

Fact 1: This what the government done, the censorship of youtube is completely nonsensical. Me and many Turkish people are against this idea.

Fact2: Nobody would like when somone insults someone who is loved. Ataturk is the hero of Turks, the founder of the free Turkish Republic. Would you like if one turk comes and insults without a reason you, your family, your nation? Why should something done "without a reason" called free speech? Or maybe I should say, the one who does such a insult, is doing this just to make chaos, it is nat a free speech, it is a starter to all this; all this misunderstandings and charges of Turkey. That video is not free speech, it is a propaganda. But in the other hand, banning youtube completely this is a limitation of free speech...

Fact3: You don't know anything about Turkey. Yes you don't. You just know what is been showed to you from the media, the movies, the stories etc. Just whit one example, the boy who was accused to be the murder of Hrand Dink

Can Atilla, Istanbul, Turkey

Everybody is talking about the ban here and yet with some half-read and half-searched facts, some far away uneducated from san antonio can find the courage under the pretext of criticism and free speech to jump to conclusion about the so-called genocide.
What do you know?

izzet, bursa, turkey

Having lived in Turkey now for a few years, and now myself a Turkish citizen, I have grown to understand the importance of Ataturk and the legacy that he left behind, and slowly it seems being dismantled by the governing AK Party. However, to ban a web site that contains millions of videos because some were offensive to the great man is a taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut. By doing this they are themselves insulting....insulting the intelligence of the Turkish population, to be able to use their own minds not to click on view.

If they took the time to trail the net, they would find so much more worthwhile sites to close.

The Turkish courts have done themselves no credit in this decision, and still 8 days later we are without youtube, a website that has become an important part of people's lifes here.

Michael, Antalya, Turkey

I don't care whether they insult or abuse turkey, attaturk or god, it does not make a difference, its an opinion.. The opinion themselves will not be respected but banning them will increase such behavior. If such videos are being placed on youTube let them be for crying out loud, people who respect others will not view them and people smart enough will avoid them.

Turkey does not anything about freedom of expression...let me clear it out, say anything you want where ever you want and whenever without hurting anyone...

I'm sorry but what Turkey is doing is a childish behaviour

People take freedom of speech subjectively which is where the problem arises...a very sad state of affairs..

P.S : I'm not proud of my country either

Syed, Karachi, Pakistan

The extermination of the Armenians was genocide and Turkey refuses to even admit to it. Even if the Turkish government refuses to apologize, they can at least take responsibility for it.

That is criticism. But that would get me killed in your country...

Chris, San Antonio, US

The idea that there is a real distinction between criticism and insults in the Turkish penal code is absurd. If you want to know the truth about Turkey, just ask Hrant Dink.

Oh, yeah, I forgot, you can't any more. Hrant Dink was murdered by a Turkish youth in broad daylight in Turkey after his trial and conviction for "insulting Turkishness".

His crime: trying to bring reconciliation between Turks and Armenians. Reconciliation insults Turkishness I guess.

If the murdering youth was treated like the criminal that he is, there might be some hope in the distant future for the Turkish government to be considered a civilised nation. However, it must be remembered that the youth was taken to a Turkish police station where the police hailed him as a hero and took pictures with him holding the Turkish flag. This did not insult Turkishness.

May God save the world from such Turkishness.

Nickoli, San Diego, California

Aragont European type of thinking has to understand that that is not a cencorship.
That is a sanction and political power of turkish government. youtube has already said sorry and taken a back step to have a country of 78 million people back on his site. Soon those types of harrasing and insulting vidoes will completely be removed by youtube and they will work harder to prevetn those racist,facist vidoes from being posted.
Secondly, lets get something straight. it is not a crime to critize Ataturk but it is illegal to insult. that is our law, like it or not, that is the way it keeps a country like Turkey, strong.
Personally, only hippie Turks would care about this ban, we all know this ban will be removed soon since youtube lawyers are trying hard to solve this problem. At the end we are having what we wanted.Finally, You have to understand 1 thing. Freedom of speech has nothing to do with insulting a national symbol (hero) of a country.

Glan, istanbul,

Everyone says something but the courts decision is absolutely fine.
Long live TÃœRKÄ°YE.

Attilla TURK, Bursa, TURKEY

One question to Kriss from Oslo, Norway.
By the way Is Norway part of European Union or not?

murat , San francisco, USA

We are Good Neighbours with Greece in Community!
and We are Good Relatives with Kurds inside Turkey!
i dont know WHY.. But some people trying to put us in opposite sides.. in internet and politics..
If you dont believe me..
Come and See Turkey(Turkiye, the real name)
I am physician..

Fatih, Eskisehir, Turkey

Im An Expat Living In Turkey And Cannot Beleive Im Being Denyed Access To A Site That I Log Onto Everyday! Turkish People Are So Friendly And Generous.

liam philip, mugla, turkey

Greece,or more acurate Hellas,is the most beautiful place in the world.Spectacular clean beaches, beautiful mountains, friendly people, superior service, unmathed islantic scenery which is second to none, and unique climate. Serene small islands of just a few hundrend tourists, to large cosmopolitan places with million of visitors, and unparalelled night life.
Greece is the mother-country of western civilization with reach history.Greeks are also known for their pride and and heroism.They have always fought to the death for their lands, their religion their families and mostly for their freedom.In WWII,W. Churcill made the famous statement "SO FAR WE KNEW THE GREEKS FIGHT LIKE HEROES NOW WE MUST SAY THE HEROES FIGHT LIKE THE GREEKS" Sadly, Greeks also fight one another giving the opportunity to invadors, such as Romans,Turks,and other barbarians to occupied their lands and claim it as theirs(ex:Asia Minor,North Epirus,North Macedonia), even today.
Still,we love and forgive all.

Spartan, Boston,

turkish are lovely friendly and hospitable people, they are so warm and generous, they are not cold and hostile like the westerners

as, birmingham,

Thats really a SCANDAL!

michael kokeny, Budapest, Hungary

i have been visiting turkey 2 or 3 times a year since 2000 , its great !!! prior to discovering turkey i had visited greece and south cyprus , the turks come out on top everytime they r friendly , helpful and caring unlike the greek experiences i had , in all my visits to turkey i never heard 1 person slating the greeks but in south cyprus it is their mission to defame the turks........

kat, stoke on trent, uk

I have been to Turkey on more than one occasion for a holiday and business purposes.I ,most certainly,suggest everyone to go and see the real meaning of friendliness.I would welcomed with great warm wherever I go into.I remember once I run out of money in the middle of the street and no wat to get back to otel I was staying.While I was looking around like a weed and trying to ask for help,a taxi driver approached and asked me if he could help.I explained the desperate situation I was in and he gave me a lift to the hotel which was about half an hour drive.I wanted to pay but he said I was his guest and it was the nature of Turkish hospitality not the take the money.I had terrible experience in Athens where I was held in a police station for 7 hours because of the little problem on my visa..TERRIBLE.GREECE NEVER EVER AGAIN.

Tiago, Brighton, England

greece is the most beautiful place in the world the history the people the heart everything is perfect and so wonderful i know why their are so friendly to you idiot they only wants your money and when you are a women and you fly to silly turkey all the man wants to be your friend and calls you in the middle of the night in your hotelroom (and i dont know where they have this number) ohhhh yes very great i never has this situation in greece the men there have stile an are so beautiful and for all they respect you and thats the most biggest different.

Sarah, Germany,

I also felt more welcome in Turkey than Crete and Crete is part of Greece.

William, Hurlburt Field, FL

I've been to Turkey, and I've never felt more welcomed anywhere. Even going into a shop, it's like they were welcoming the prodigal son home. I never felt like they were happy to see me because I might buy something. Just from reading my Mom's college Western Civ book from 1991 gave me a tremendous respect for Gen. Ataturk. It's a great place and I can't see why it hasn't already been admitted to the EU, regardless of religion.

William, Hurlburt Field, FL

Maybe, something that turkish people do is not democratic(!) and yes, turkish people always take pain over nationalist assets..but look from this aspect;that is what nearly all the nations are missing today ....some can deny but that is right.. EU countries trying to get those values but they coulndt..

me , ankara, turkey

This just demonstrates how unready Turkey is to join the EU

Rich W, Bournemouth, England

it was just an intimitadion for advertisement incaome of Youtube.. There's no ban now. But i don't approw the ban also I hate and shame for that.. in spite of it keep on for 3 days..

Attila Hun, Istanbul, Turkey

I believe the past is the past. Whatever happenned was the past, we must look to further unite our countries and stop the insults. Although there are times I am upset and angered by our past history of violence, I am also sad to see our countries further distancing themselves

Dimitrios, Athens, Greece

I think they have the right to do this, and I think YouTube should be more careful when allowing every post on their servers.

Freedom of speech has nothing to do with the freedom to insult.

Toni, Toronto, Canada

How on earth someone can criticise being from a country?? It is NOT illegal to "criticise" anything but it is illegal to "insult", and this is taken seriously when done to a person who is considered to be the founder of a nation. Do not have an opinion without knowing anything about the subject, the videos weren't criticism, they weren't politically unpopular speech, they were clearly insulting. The response of banning youtube was ridiculous, but hey, didn't you see more ridiculous verdicts coming from law people all over the world about the computer stuff? And I don't have the smallest doubt that removal of the video wouldn't even be a discussion if the same thing was done to George Washington.

Mehmet, Bozeman, USA

As someone who has seen THE videos, I have to say that none of them displays a level of intelligence and creativity beyond a 12 year old's!
I believe there has to be space to protest such things as they are offensive to many.
But there is no need to go go down to their level.
Nor is there any need to respond with censorship.

elif, here n there, everywhere,

"It is illegal to criticise either Ataturk or Turkishness in Turkey"

How come this country is even considered for EU-membership?

Kriss, Oslo, Norway :

It's not illegal to criticize Ataturk or Turkishness in Turkey..It's illegal to insult him or Turkihness. You should understand the difference...

Baris, Ankara, Turkey

Shame on Youtube for censoring politically unpopular speech. I'm not on either side of the debate in Turkey, but am in the US and watching the Bill of Rights disintegrate in front of my eyes, this story being just one of a steady daily stream of such stories. I'd like to know why Youtube took down the video? Did they infringe on the video poster's rights just because the Turkish government asked them too? It wasn't a snuff film, was it? No, then why isn't anyone pointing at Youtube as the problem with this story?

Henry, San Francisco, CA

Ataturk was a courageous man who fought against an unjust occupation by outside forces of his homeland, and he wanted to fight for an independent nation. Sounds remarkably similar to the PKK to me...

Ben, York, UK,

Donald from Alberquerque: Turkey is not in the EU!

Charlotte, Swindon,

Oh my God! Someone thinks this Ataturk guy was gay! Quick, linch them!

Seriously, how is this offensive to Ataturk?

What if he WAS gay?

I guess this means homophobia is part of the Turkish culture?...

John Baptista, LA,

First of all I would like to thank "Donald, Alberquerque" straight for the objective point of wiev.
Yes, our people have suffered too much and passed away trying to gain the democracy we have now. Yes, our leader Ataturk is our devoted leader and the father of our country. Yes, he is also one of the very few leaders who had a role in changing the history of this world.
Yes, we are emotinal people, and we still got the blues when we check our history.
Is there anything wrong about being proud of some-one? So much proud that even a stupid insult can break our heart so deeply? A world-wide leader, a soldier, a brave man with one tiny-little heart! Changed so much! Done so much in such a little time? Wise and honored!
This has got nothing to do with the freedom of expression! Why should we support "the tube" with unnecessary enteries, making it gain money from more advertisements? This was a blind-fight! Useless, Aimless! We are a emotional nation. Dont have a stone head or HEART!

Seda Demirel, izmir, turkey

Of course banning youtube is an stupid action but the reaction of Turkish people has been showed is right..No one has right to show Atatürk like that. We should understand the difference of Art, comedy and insultiing..It is really insulting..

Serdar Temiz, Istanbul, Turkey

I will leave it up to the reader to conclude my opinion of Ataturk and of Turkey. I am waiting for Ataturk's postmortum Nurenburg trials... I am waiting to inherit my Mother's homes in Izmir. I am waiting to get to know father's family that misteriously disappeared after the 1915 burning of Kharpert (naturally, noone wants to take the blame for it. Hey, perhaps it never even happened!) Oh well, I guess it would be best to deny any of this even happened, and let's go on with our lives, what's left of it... such as continue fighting in Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine... kill, blame, never apologize; kill, blame, never apologize; kill, blame, never apologize; kill, blame, never apologize...

A, lost somewhere in the, U.S.A.

"It is illegal to publish Adolf Hitler's book "Mein Kampf" in Germany..."
How come this country is member of the EU?
Where does freedom of expression begin?
Please use the SAME standards on everone before making your judgments!

Donald, Alberquerque,

This is pure stupidity. I wonder when my country would begin to "ignore" some individual actions, or micro events. As i've heard, this ban is due to be cancelled in a few days. Anyway, this is an unbelievably idiotic act!

Yet, believe me; we are not all that stupid :)))

Sabri, Nogel, Turkey

oh the sexual anxieties of (not so) macho men with too much time and access to the keyboard, on their hands. it's getting tedious.

Elias, New York, USA

Anyone who has read any comments on youtube knows that it is completely dominated by idiots. Even very nice videos or artistic submissions will have crude and insulting comments somewhere in it. If there is something ethnic, say a video from Turkish TV - some idiot who doesn't like Turks will write a crude insult about Turks...and some idiot Turk who is insulted by that anonymous clown will retaliate.

It's a never-ending cycle of people with too much free time and no life.

There are a lot of conservative people as prosecutors in Turkey and they get offended quickly. Most people with a life would brush this aside, just as if someone insulted Norway or some other country on there.

Seriously, we've had the internet for a while..people need to develop some thick skins to people acting like idiots, because it won't go away soon as long as people can show their true crudeness without having to identify themselves.

Jason, St. Joseph, USA

Ataturk may not hear and care about video-insult about him on the site if he is not checking youtube randomly...

hüseyin, amasya, turkey

Why not someone with knowledge of the East mediteranean Politics is not writing these articles??
Nobody has "labelled Turkey "Little Asia"". This is the name for the West part of Turkey for the last 3000 years - Asia Minor.

Basil, cambridge, UK

"Asia Minor" is a much more accurate translation than "Little Asia".

Simon Davis, arlington, VA, USA

"It is illegal to criticise either Ataturk or Turkishness in Turkey"

How come this country is even considered for EU-membership?

Kriss, Oslo, Norway

it's really an irony that a whole nation is banned from reaching a website just because somebody from some other country prepared an insulting video on this website .
It's like somebody is beating you up at school , and your mom doesn't allow you go to school anymore.

ilker ender, toronto,

Mikra Asia=Asia Minor, not Little Asia

George, blah, blah