Wikipedia blocked in Turkey

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The Turkey Blocks monitoring network has verified restrictions affecting the Wikipedia online encyclopaedia in Turkey. A block affecting all language editions of the website detected at 8:00AM local time Saturday 29 April. The loss of availability is consistent with internet filters used to censor content in the country.

Certain subdomains remained partially available on ISP TTNet at the time of writing, while the restriction appears to by fully implemented on Uydunet, Turkcell and other fixed line and mobile service providers.

SSL errors are issued for https requests, indicating failing to connect to the authentic servers, while the unencrypted addresses now return an nginx http 404 error indicative of filtering.

SSL handshake failure: Capture on a residential TTNet host shows filtering in use in addition to DNS spoofing

All language editions of the site are affected and the restriction is in place with multiple service providers.

The BTK/ICTA portal reports that the site has been blocked under a provisional administrative order:

5651 sayılı Kanun uyarınca yapılan teknik inceleme ve hukuki değerlendirme sonucunda bu İnternet sitesi (wikipedia.org) hakkındaki Bilgi Teknolojileri ve İletişim Kurumu ‘nın 29/04/2017 tarih ve 490.05.01.2017.-182198 sayılı kararına istinaden Bilgi Teknolojileri ve İletişim Kurumu tarafından İDARİ TEDBİR uygulanmaktadır.

(After technical analysis and legal consideration based on the Law Nr. 5651, ADMINISTRATION MEASURE has been taken for this website (wikipedia.org) according to Decision Nr. 490.05.01.2017.-182198 dated 29/04/2017 implemented by Information and Communication Technologies Authority.)

An administrative blocking order is usually expected to precede a full court blocking order in subsequent days.

Update: A formal judgement has been issued in approval of the administrative measure, indicating that a permanent restriction is now in place.

Turkey Blocks is an independent, non-partisan network monitoring observatory built on open technology; winner of the Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award 2017 [methodology | contact | about]