A reader, identified as “Hayuhi,” recently left a message in the Internet comment section beneath a recent story in the Hürriyet Daily News: “Sometimes I have to read such articles a good few times just to reassure myself that it is not an optical illusion.”
The story was the reasoning of Transportation and Telecommunications Minister Binali Yıldırım explaining the two-year-old government ban on the video-sharing site “YouTube.” This ban, needless to say, is not the only challenge to free expression that Turkey faces. It is, however, the one most often cited when Turkey is lumped with places like North Korea or Myanmar for its policies.
But no need to worry, Yıldırım explained. This has nothing to do with freedom of expression. It’s a simple tax matter. As soon as YouTube opens a representative office in Turkey and pays taxes on income derived from being reachable from Turkish web servers ... well then no problem, the government will open the switches.
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