Turkey bans offensive YouTube videos

Ankara (Turkey) - Google’s popular video sharing site has once again found itself in the middle of an international controversy, as Turkey has banned Youtube over videos that it deems offensive.

The viral video site has come to chopping block in Turkey again after someone posted a video that insults the country’s first president Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. The video compares Ataturk with a monkey, and according to the government this violates the law that makes it illegal to "insult Turkishness."

Turkish residents who try to access the site now get the error message, "Access to this web site has been suspended in accordance with decision no : 2008/55 of T.R. Ankara 12th Criminal Court of Peace."

Since the law was introduced in 2005, more than 65 people have been charged with "insulting Turkishness", though YouTube has only been at the core of a handful of these. Still, the few offensive videos have caused the site to go on and off in the country. The most recent ban is the result of a court ruling on January 17 that confirmed the Youtube video is violating the law.