Thank you, everyone, for your messages regarding the situation in Turkey. As you can imagine, this has been a very busy time for the Wikimedia Foundation's Legal, Communications, Technical Operations, and Community Engagement departments, and we apologize for not being able to respond to Wikimedia-l sooner.
We are planning to publish a statement on the Wikimedia blog soon. In the meantime, we have been handling media and other inquiries with the following short statement, which we shared with the Communications Committee (ComCom) earlier this morning:
"The Wikimedia Foundation has learned that access to Wikipedia has been blocked in Turkey as of Saturday, April 29th. Wikipedia is a rich and valuable source of neutral, reliable information in hundreds of languages, written by volunteers around the world. We are committed to ensuring that Wikipedia remains available to the millions of people who rely on it in Turkey. To that end, we are actively working with outside counsel to seek judicial review of the decision affecting access to Wikipedia. We hope the issue can be resolved promptly."
We will continue to do our best to monitor this discussion, but I ask for your patience as we are managing inquiries coming in from multiple places.
If you are receiving media inquiries about this, please contact press@wikimedia.org and we will be able to assist you. At this point, we believe that the most valuable point Wikimedians can make on behalf of Wikipedia is explaining its value as an educational resource.
Thank you!
Juliet
On Sat, Apr 29, 2017 at 12:47 PM, Peter Southwood < peter.southwood@telkomsa.net> wrote:
False dichotomy Cheers, P
-----Original Message----- From: Wikimedia-l [mailto:wikimedia-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Rogol Domedonfors Sent: Saturday, 29 April 2017 9:46 PM To: Wikimedia Mailing List Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: [PRESS] Turkish authorities block Wikipedia
Richard
Then you want to say "We the undersigned do not [etc]". Of course the implication is that everyone else does ...
"Rogol"
On Sat, Apr 29, 2017 at 8:42 PM, Richard Farmbrough < richard@farmbrough.co.uk> wrote:
Primarily this is those who sign the statement on meta.
On 29 Apr 2017 20:41, "Rogol Domedonfors" domedonfors@gmail.com wrote:
James
If you cannot say who "We" are who do not support terrorism, then your statement is both meaningless and ineffectual. If you are specific, then "we" need to know why you feel able to speak for "us".
"Rogol"
On Sat, Apr 29, 2017 at 8:33 PM, James Heilman jmh649@gmail.com
wrote:
@ Richard Thank you. I have adjusted that sentence to "We do not
support
terrorism."
J
On Sat, Apr 29, 2017 at 1:19 PM, Richard Farmbrough < richard@farmbrough.co.uk> wrote:
"As a movement" is a phrase which I have trouble with. WhiIe left it
is
very easy to make apple pie statements with little fear of
contradiction, I
think it misees the point. We provide information, neutral
information.
Perhaps we hope as individuals this discourages rather than
encourages
certain forms of behaviour. But if we provided the information with
the
goal of, for example, opposing terrorism we would cease to be a
neutral,
reliable sourgent, thus defeating any such goal.
Conversely it is far more convincing to say that we don't support terrorism, that the statements are on their face absurd, that we
clearly
document the rise and fall of Isis, together with their actions both
in
the
Middle East and the wider world, and tother encourage anyone who
doubts
this to read our articles on the subject.
On 29 Apr 2017 19:52, "James Heilman" jmh649@gmail.com wrote:
Richard I am not sure I am clear on what you mean. We are not
impartial
to
everything. We oppose censorship and we oppose suppression of
freedom
of
information. I think it is also perfectly fine to state that we as
a
movement oppose terrorism.
Made a few more adjustments to this statement on meta
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Response_to_2017_ban_in_Turkey
James
On Sat, Apr 29, 2017 at 12:46 PM, Richard Farmbrough < richard@farmbrough.co.uk> wrote:
> It is absolutely important to be clear that Wikipedia is
impartial,
or
at
> least substantially so. This impartiality may be a threat > to
some,
but
it > could be counter-productive to make statements which are not
carefully
> thought through. Those who support repressive regimes can > easily
be
pushed > into an absolutist mindset. > > > On 29 Apr 2017 18:42, "Ivan Martínez" galaver@gmail.com
wrote:
> > > +1 to Ting's idea about a statement > > > > Also we can support from our corner sending tweets and > > e-mails
to
our
> local > > embassies. Our friends from Turkey or someone who speaks
turkish
can
> > support us with a hasthag? I posted #WikipediaSansürlendi > > but
maybe
is
> > incorrect. > > > > Best, > > > > 2017-04-29 12:16 GMT-05:00 Ting Chen wing.philopp@gmx.de: > > > > > I think the Foundation and the chapters *must* make a
statement
that
> > > decisively contradicts the reason of the block: That
Wikipedia
supports > > > terrorism. There could be further texts in the statement
which
stresses > > our > > > principle of neutrality and our goal to spread > > > knowledge, but
the
first > > and > > > most important statement is to contradict the accusation. > > > > > > Ah some times I miss Jay, he would immediately recognize > > > how important > it > > > is to make such a statement. When national newspapers > > > and
broadcasts
> are > > > referring (I just heard the one in Deutschland Funk > > > http://www.deutschlandfunk.de/dlf24-startseite.1441.de.h > > > tml
)
this
> > event, > > > there should be not only the accusation but always also > > > a
reaction.
> > > > > > Greetings > > > > > > Ting > > > > > > > > > > > > Am 29.04.2017 um 10:43 schrieb Itzik - Wikimedia Israel: > > > > > >> Hey, > > >> > > >> FYI - sad news from Turkish. > > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> *Regards,Itzik Edri* > > >> Chairperson, Wikimedia Israel > > >> +972-54-5878078 | http://www.wikimedia.org.il > > >> Imagine a world in which every single human being can > > >> freely
share
in > > the > > >> sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment! > > >> > > >> > > >> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > > >> From: Itzik - Wikimedia Israel itzik@wikimedia.org.il > > >> Date: Sat, Apr 29, 2017 at 11:42 AM > > >> Subject: [PRESS] Turkish authorities block Wikipedia > > >> To: Communications Committee > > >> wmfcc-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > >> > > >> > > >> http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39754909 > > >> > > >> Reuters just published that a 15 minutes ago, so it > > >> will be
soon
all
> > over > > >> the news. > > >> > > >> > > >> --- > > >> > > >> *Turkey has blocked all access inside the country to > > >> the
online
> > >> encyclopaedia Wikipedia, one of the world's most > > >> popular
websites.*
> > >> > > >> It was not initially clear why the ban had been imposed. > > >> The Turkey Blocks group said the site was inaccessible > > >> from
08:00
> (05:00 > > >> GMT) by order of the Turkish authorities. > > >> People in the capital Istanbul were unable to access > > >> any
Wikipedia
> pages > > >> without using a Virtual Private Network (VPN). > > >> "After technical analysis and legal consideration based > > >> on
the
Law
Nr. > > >> 5651, an administrative measure has been taken for this
website,"
> > Turkey's > > >> Information and Communication Technologies Authority > > >> was
quoted
as
> > saying. > > >> No reason was given. > > >> Turkey Blocks and Turkish media, including the Hurriyet
Daily
News,
> said > > >> the provisional order would need to be backed by a full
court
ruling
> in > > >> the > > >> next few days. > > >> > > >> Social media was in uproar as news of the ban emerged, > > >> with
some
users > > >> speculating that it might be a bid to suppress > > >> criticism on President > > >> Recep > > >> Tayyip Erdogan's Wikipedia page. > > >> Mr Erdogan narrowly won a controversial 16 April > > >> referendum
on
> > increasing > > >> his powers, but the issue has deeply divided the country. > > >> Turkey has temporarily blocked popular social media > > >> sites
including
> > >> Facebook and Twitter in the past, especially in the > > >> wake of
mass
> > protests > > >> or terror attacks. > > >> The government has previously denied censoring the > > >> internet,
blaming
> > >> outages on spikes in usage after major events. > > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> *Regards,Itzik Edri* > > >> Chairperson, Wikimedia Israel > > >> +972-54-5878078 <+972%2054-587-8078> |
> > >> Imagine a world in which every single human being can > > >> freely
share
in > > the > > >> sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment! > > >> _______________________________________________ > > >> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wik > > >> i/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wik
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> > > > > > > > > > > -- > > *Iván Martínez* > > > > *Presidente - Wikimedia México A.C.User:ProtoplasmaKid * > > > > // Mis comunicaciones respecto a Wikipedia/Wikimedia > > pueden
tener
una
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-- James Heilman MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian
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