By Emre Peker
ISTANBUL--Turkish authorities briefly cut off access to Twitter
Inc. on Wednesday to block the spread of information about a
suicide bombing that has convulsed the country and to prevent
unauthorized demonstrations.
The Twitter blackout came just hours after a court in the
southern province of Sanliurfa ordered the suppression of images
and videos on Monday's suicide bombing in Suruç, which killed at
least 32 people and wounded more than 100 others. Turkish officials
have blamed the attack on the Sunni Muslim extremist group Islamic
State
Adding to tensions in Turkey, the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or
PKK, claimed responsibility for the killings on Wednesday of a
police officer and a member of a government counterterrorism unit
in the province of Sanliurfa, which encompasses Suruç. The group
said the killings were retaliation for the Suruç bombing and for
what it said was the cooperation by the two men with Islamic
State.
An official in Sanliurfa had no immediate comment on the claim.
The PKK, which has been fighting has been fighting for autonomy in
southeastern Turkey since 1984, is designated a terrorist
organization by Ankara, Washington and the European Union.
In a statement about the social-media ban, Turkey's state-run
Anadolu news agency said it was imposed because of the
dissemination of information about the Monday's suicide attack and
calls for what the agency described as "illegal mass
demonstrations."
Turkey's Internet Service Providers Association delivered court
orders to Twitter, Facebook Inc. and Google Inc.'s video-sharing
website, YouTube, demanding the removal of attack-related content,
Anadolu said.
While Facebook and YouTube quickly removed the banned content
and kept operating, Twitter shut down briefly to give it more time
to comply with the court order.
A spokesman for Twitter had no immediate comment.
In the past two years, the government has stepped up its efforts
to control Twitter, Facebook and Google, with the companies in many
cases complying with demands by authorities to remove content.
In April, a Turkish court temporarily blocked user access to
Twitter and YouTube for failing to remove content related to a
hostage crisis. Facebook was also hit with a brief interruption.
All the sites went back online within hours after complying with
the order.
Monday's attack near Turkey's border with Syria has been
condemned across the country. It has also sparked criticism of
Ankara's efforts to unseat Syrian President Bashar al- Assad, which
some critics say has drawn Islamist militant groups closer to
Turkey's border, if not into the country itself.
Opposition lawmakers have called for mass protests to condemn
terrorism and the government's foreign policy, while police have
deployed tear-gas and water cannons against demonstrating
government opponents.
Sam Schechner in Paris contributed to this article.
Write to Emre Peker at emre.peker@wsj.com
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