ISTANBUL: Turkey has restored access to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia after a constitutional court ruled on Wednesday that the more than two-year suspension breached freedom of expression.
Turkey has been the only country in the world apart from China to completely block access to the Wikipedia, but its constitutional court ordered last month that the restriction, which had been in effect since April 2017, breached freedom of expression.
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The deterioration of free speech in Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been widely criticized by rights groups, in particular since a failed coup attempt in 2016 sparked a major assault on government opponents in the press and beyond.
Access to the website will be resumed once the decision, approved by a 10-to-six vote in parliament, has been referred to the committee on telecommunications, the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit organization that runs Wikipedia, has appealed to the highest court in Turkey to challenge the ban.
