I'd have been surprised if they had been unblocked, but, as I said, the
constitutional win is still important.
Mike
On Tue, Jan 7, 2020 at 11:32 AM John Erling Blad <jeblad(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Both
en.wikipedia.org and
tr.wikipedia.org are still
blocked.
On Thu, Dec 26, 2019 at 10:44 PM Mike Godwin <mnemonic(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Great news! Even if the court's decision isn't implemented by the current
Turkish government, it is important to have established that the block
was
a violation of constitutional principles.
Mike
On Thu, Dec 26, 2019 at 4:40 PM Katherine Maher <kmaher(a)wikimedia.org>
wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I have some good news to share with you all -- after nearly three
years of
> Wikipedia being blocked in Turkey, the
Turkish Constitutional Court has
> ruled that this is unconstitutional. We hope that access will be
restored
> soon in light of this ruling, and will keep
you updated as we hear
further
> developments.
>
> Please join me in congratulating the Wikimedia community in Turkey, the
> millions of Wikipedia readers in Turkey, and all of those struggling
under
> censorship around the world, on this
critical affirmation of the
> fundamental right to knowledge.
>
> Imposed in April of 2017, the block has prevented the 80+ million
people
> in Turkey from accessing and participating
in all language versions of
> Wikipedia. It also prevented members of our community in Turkey from
freely
> engaging with the projects and impaired our
movement’s global effort to
> represent the sum of all knowledge.
>
> As many of you might recall, we had filed an urgent application to the
> European Court of Human Rights in April 2019. Our petition on the
legality
> of the access ban is currently before the
ECHR and we are evaluating
our
> next steps based on this latest ruling.
>
> A team from within and outside the Wikimedia Foundation has been
working
> diligently since the block was instituted to
restore full access in
Turkey.
> Throughout this process, we have been guided
by our Wikimedia values
and a
> belief that Wikipedia must be accessible in
its entirety; with no
> censorship of any kind to be tolerated. We worked closely with
Wikimedia
> community members in Turkey to understand
and act in a way that
reflected
> their needs, wishes, and local context. We
also benefited greatly from
> conversations with experts around the world.
>
> We will be posting more information on the Foundation website soon. In
the
> meantime, I wanted to offer my sincere
appreciation and admiration to
the
> members of our community in Turkey -- you
have shown great integrity,
> courage, and dedication. Your unwavering commitment to the Wikimedia
> projects, despite the obstacles placed in front of you, is an
inspiration
> to us all.
>
> Thank you to every Wikimedia community member around the world who
showed
> support for the Turkish community. Your
commitment to our sense of
> community and the strength of our global movement is an inspiration.
>
> Finally, I would also like to thank the many Foundation staff and
others
> involved over the past months for your
exceptional diligence,
> professionalism, and tact in handling a delicate situation.
>
> While this is a favorable ruling for our case in Turkey, it remains to
be
> seen whether the Turkish government will
indeed restore access in
Turkey.
> And serious threats to free knowledge remain
around the world. Today's
> ruling is a reminder of the work we still left to do.
>
> But at this moment, let us celebrate this important recognition that
the
> right to information is fundamental to every
human, with happy
anticipation
> of the return of Turkey to our global
community of editors, readers,
and
knowledge
seekers.
Katherine
--
Katherine Maher (she/her)
Executive Director
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
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