Nobody, except perhaps Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, seems very happy about Turkey's ban on Twitter. It has caused an uproar among Turkish citizens, who are finding ways get around the ban, Turkey's own president, and now the White House.
The Obama administration condemned the ban in an emailed statement on Friday, stating that blocking Twitter undermines a citizen's "ability to exercise freedoms of expression and association," and "runs contrary to the principles of open governance that are critical to democratic governance and the universal rights that the United States stands for around the world."
See also: Dear Dictators: Yes, Please Try to Block Twitter
Erdoğan said Thursday he wanted to "eradicate" Twitter, but the block seems to have backfired: Turks have sent 1.2 million tweets within the country since the block, using various circumvention tools — including IP addresses being spread via graffiti.
The White House statement, issued by Press Secretary Jay Carney, reveals that the U.S. government has "conveyed" serious concern over the situation.
"We oppose this restriction on the Turkish people’s access to information," Carney wrote.
Erdoğan said on Thursday that he doesn't care what the international community says.
The full White House statement is below:
The United States is deeply concerned that the Turkish government has blocked its citizens’ access to basic communication tools. We oppose this restriction on the Turkish people’s access to information, which undermines their ability to exercise freedoms of expression and association and runs contrary to the principles of open governance that are critical to democratic governance and the universal rights that the United States stands for around the world. We have conveyed our serious concern to the Turkish government, urge Turkish authorities to respect the freedom of the press by permitting the independent and unfettered operation of media of all kinds, and support the people of Turkey in their calls to restore full access to the blocked technologies.
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