Turkey lifts Twitter ban following controversial elections

After a two week-long ban, Twitter is finally up and running again in Turkey, reports Reuters. The ban was lifted days after recent elections kept Turkey’s ruling party in power.

Turkey’s Twitter ban began last month after prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also threatened to cut off access to YouTube and Facebook. Later, the ban backfired as citizens found ways around it.

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Additional pressure on Turkey’s prime minister came from two court rulings and a series of petitions from Twitter, Turkish civilians, and the European Union. Turkey’s Constitutional Court declared that blocking Twitter was a violation of freedom of speech.

And yet, the ban didn’t lift until after Tuesday’s elections, which kept Turkey’s AK party – known as the Justice and Development party — in power. Erdogan continues to serve as the party’s leader and purportedly enacted the block to stop the spread of corruption claims on social media.

Turkey’s Telecommunications Board told the WSJ that the block will be “lifted right after the necessary technical steps are taken.” Some Twitter users in Turkey report that they’re already able to access Twitter on Turkey’s largest ISP, TTNET.

The company seem optimistic and is officially preparing for its Turkish users to regain access:

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We are encouraged by the news from Turkey today and welcome our Turkish users back to Twitter.

— Policy (@policy) April 3, 2014

An official at the prime minister’s office confirmed the news, according to Reuters. The office did not reply to VentureBeat’s request for comment.