[Attarderb]

From Spiegel

Virtual Mud Flung Between Greeks and Turks
A Turkish court this week temporarily shut off access to YouTube in the country after a video insulted founding father Atatürk. Others moved to defend the Turkish hero in cyber space.

Turkey, which hopes to join the European Union, has been roundly condemned for not doing enough to curb extreme nationalist sentiment and to protect freedom of expression. Criticism of Article 301 from the EU has moved the Turkish government to consider rewording the article but there is no talk of its abolition. With general elections coming up in November, it doesn't want to risk the loss in popularity that the gesture could entail.

The YouTube video caused a media sensation in Turkey. The nationalist-leaning daily Hurriyet ran a front page story on Wednesday, claiming that thousands of people had e-mailed YouTube to protest the video. "YouTube got the message," was the headline.