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ARTICLE · 20 JANUARY 2020

Access To Wikipedia Reinstated In Turkey

ELIG Gürkaynak Attorneys-at-Law
ELIG Gürkaynak Attorneys-at-Law
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ELIG Gürkaynak Attorneys-at-Law

ELIG Gürkaynak Attorneys-at-Law

ELIG Gürkaynak Attorneys-at-Law is an eminent, independent Turkish law firm based in Istanbul. The...

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ELIG Gürkaynak Attorneys-at-Law, acting as outside counsel for Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., has secured an affirmative decision from the Turkish Constitutional Court in the matter of an universal access ban on the Wikipedia website in Turkey.

TurkeyGovernment, Public Sector
Gönenç Gürkaynak
Gönenç Gürkaynak
Ceren Yıldız
Ceren Yıldız
Noyan Utkan
Noyan Utkan
Ekin İnce
Ekin İnce
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ELIG Gürkaynak Attorneys-at-Law, acting as outside counsel for Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. ("Wikimedia"), has secured an affirmative decision from the Turkish Constitutional Court in the matter of an universal access ban on the Wikipedia website (www.wikipedia.org) in Turkey.

The Constitutional Court's decision regarding the claims of violation of freedom of expression due to the access ban on the entire Wikipedia website was issued on December 26, 2019, and published in the Official Gazette on January 15, 2020. The Constitutional Court concluded, by a majority vote, that the access ban of the entire Wikipedia website was unconstitutional.

Background of the Case

The Turkish Information Technologies and Communications Authority ("ICTA") access banned the entirety of Wikipedia on April 29, 2017, based on the contents of certain articles on state-sponsored terrorism and foreign involvement in the Syrian Civil war, which had been published at two different Wikipedia

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