Turkey's prime minister says he'll pursue Twitter for 'tax evasion'

Turkey's prime minister seems to still be looking for a way to silence Twitter in his country, saying in a televised speech Saturday that the microblogging service is a tax evader and that his government will pursue it.

"Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook are international companies established for profit and making money. Twitter is at the same time a tax evader. We will go after it," Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, according to a report by news agency AFP. "These companies, like every international company, will abide by my country's constitution, laws, and tax rules."

Twitter was banned by Erdogan's government last month in a runup to elections, but the ban was later lifted after Turkey's supreme court ruled that it interfered with free speech and individual rights. The court also ordered that a YouTube ban be lifted (with 15 videos to remain inaccessible), but so far the government hasn't stopped blocking that site.

The bans have to do with posted content critical of Erdogan's government. Recordings surfaced on Twitter that allegedly captured Erdogan and his son in corrupt activities, discussing how to hide large sums of money. Erdogan called the recordings "fake."

And YouTube was shut down after the appearance of a recording that allegedly caught government officials talking about how to justify air strikes against Syria. Turkey's foreign ministry said the recording was manipulated and was a "first degree threat to national security," according to Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency.

Erdogen said Saturday that the supreme court's decision on the Twitter ban "amounts to interference in politics" and advocates "commercial law of international companies instead of defending the rights of its own country and its own people."

AFP reports that Erdogen's remarks come a day after the court annulled a controversial clause in a law "giving the justice ministry greater control over the appointment of judges and prosecutors."

Earlier this week, Erdogen said the ruling on the Twitter ban "did not serve justice" and should be "corrected." And on Monday, Google announced that it had previously filed three petitions in Turkey in an attempt to overturn the YouTube ban, reportedly arguing that the block is "overbroad" and challenging it "based on freedom of speech."

In March, the White House issued a statement condemning Turkey's blockage of "access to basic communication tools." Press Secretary Jay Carney said, "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." Carney also said the White House had conveyed its concerns to the Turkish government.

We've asked Twitter to comment on Erdogen's "tax evader" remark and will update this post when we hear back.

Twitter battle in Turkey heats up, spreads to YouTube -- reports

Turkey's battle over Net censorship is heating up, with the government there reportedly blocking a method that let citizens sidestep a Twitter ban, the White House expressing "serious concern" over the ban, and Google reportedly refusing requests from Turkish authorities to take down YouTube videos that cast the prime minister in a critical light.

Bloomberg cited Turkish newspapers in reporting that the Turkish government had blocked on Saturday a Google service that enabled citizens to tweet. Setting a PC or mobile device to use Google's DNS IP address of 8.8.8.8 had let people slip past the ban (and graffiti displaying the phrase "DNS 8.8.8.8" was even spotted around Turkey, helping spread the word). But on Saturday the government prevented access to Google DNS, Bloomberg said.

Yesterday, the White House issued a statement condemning Turkey's blockage of "access to basic communication tools." As reported by The Switch, Press Secretary Jay Carney delivered the remarks, saying, "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." Carney said the White House had conveyed its concerns to the Turkish government.

"We support a free and open Internet throughout the world and are concerned whenever and wherever it comes under threat," Google told the Journal in a statement. The paper's source said Google feels "an immediate threat" of a YouTube ban in Turkey.Meanwhile, Google ignored requests from Turkish officials to remove YouTube videos that allege government corruption, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed sources. The videos include clips that feature a recording, allegedly of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in which Erdogen seems to instruct his son to hide money from investigators. Erdogen has called the recording a fake.

On Thursday, Turkish courts took Twitter offline for the country's 76 million citizens following actions by Erdogan. An unabashed critic of social networks, Erdogan has threatened to "wipe out" the site in the wake of a political corruption scandal that has embarrassed the government through news, videos, and images posted on the microblogging site. Members of Erdogen's government face local elections March 30.

(Credit: Twitter; screenshot by CNET)

Reuters reported Saturday that the Turkish government said Twitter was being used "to carry out systematic character assassinations by circulating illegally acquired recordings, fake and fabricated records of wiretapping." The news service quoted a statement from the prime minister's office that said, "It is difficult to comprehend Twitter's indifference and its biased and prejudiced stance. We believe that this attitude is damaging to the brand image of the company in question and creates an unfair and inaccurate impression of our country."

Reuters also quoted an unnamed senior official of the Turkish government as saying that talks with Twitter that began on Friday are continuing and that "the process is going positively."

"As far as we are concerned, when the court rulings are implemented the problems will be resolved and the block on Twitter will be lifted," the official told Reuters.

"We stand with our users in Turkey who rely on Twitter as a vital communications platform," Twitter said in a tweet on Friday. "We hope to have full access returned soon."

Reuters also said many people on Twitter were reporting that the reportedly blocked DNS settings were working by the early afternoon in Turkey.