Turkish government bans YouTube and Twitter after damning leaks

[Gyrate]

From Al-Jazeera English:

Turkey has banned video-sharing website YouTube, having blocked Twitter a week earlier, after both were used to spread audio recordings damaging to the government, local media reported.

And the audio leaks, if authentic, are very damaging indeed. This recording, purporting to be key members of the Turkish government and military, suggests that they were at least considering a false-flag operation in Syria:

Ahmet Davutolu: “Prime Minister said that in current conjuncture, this attack (on Suleiman Shah Tomb) must be seen as an opportunity for us.”

Hakan Fidan:** “I’ll send 4 men from Syria, if that’s what it takes. I’ll make up a cause of war by ordering a missile attack on Turkey; we can also prepare an attack on Suleiman Shah Tomb if necessary.”**

Feridun Sinirliolu: “Our national security has become a common, cheap domestic policy outfit.”

Yasar Güler: “It’s a direct cause of war. I mean, what’re going to do is a direct cause of war.”

I don’t speak Turkish but I have a Turkish friend who is inclined to believe this is genuine. The blogosphere is blowing this up into an indictment of all of NATO, but even if it’s just a few people in Turkey spitballing ideas the fact that the government reaction was to shut down large chunks of the Internet is worrying.

So - in the interest of justifying putting this in GD - is this a tempest in a teapot or indicative of a more disturing trend in Turkish politics?

[Sage_Rat]

Apparently, the leading party (the AKP) in Turkey also laid off something like 40 detectives in Istanbul who were investigating the allegations.

While it looks like the AKP are probably dirty, minus any police department to investigate and make arrests, there is always the possibility that everything is actually a conspiracy against them (however implausible). Overall, I think the President should make an announcement to the effect that, “The government needs to continue to function, and regardless of whether there is any truth or not to the allegations that have been made against the Prime Minister and his party, it is clear that the government is not able to effectively administer the state. I would ask that the current government step down, or failing that, that the people, businesses, and military ignore any laws and demands made by the current administration until they do so. We need a new election, so that the economy and laws of Turkey are not set adrift by matters that are relevant only to politicians, not the people of Turkey.”