레제프 타이이프 에르도안 터키 총리가 20일(현지시간) "우리는 트위터를 뿌리 뽑을 것"이라며 터키에서 소셜미디어 사용을 금지하겠다는 의지를 거듭 강조했다.
에르도안 총리는 이날 부르사에서 지방선거 유세를 하면서 "나는 국제 사회가 뭐라고 말하든지 신경 쓰지 않는다. 모두가 터키 공화국의 힘을 목격하게 될 것"이라며 이같이 말했다.
그는 지난 6일에도 자신의 통화를 감청한 녹음파일이 유튜브에 잇따라 공개되자 필요하면 유튜브와 페이스북의 접속을 차단할 수 있다고 말한 바 있다.
당시 에르도안 총리는 민영방송인 ATV와 인터뷰에서 오는 30일 지방선거를 치른 다음 인터넷의 부정적 문제에 추가 조치를 하겠다며 접속 차단 방침을 밝혔다.
이 발언으로 논란이 일자 압둘라 귤 대통령은 "그것들(유튜브와 페이스북)은 매우 중요한 플랫폼"이라며 "차단하는 것은 안 된다"고 반대 의사를 밝혔다.
집권당인 정의개발당(AKP)은 인터넷 통제를 강화하는 법안을 강행처리해 야당은 물론 유럽연합(EU)과 국제언론단체 등으로부터 정부의 검열로 표현의 자유를 침해한다는 비판을 받았다.
에르도안 총리는 지난달 25일에도 아들과 거액의 비자금 은폐를 논의한 통화를 감청한 파일이 트위터에서 빠르게 확산한 것을 두고 "'로봇 로비'가 터키를 공격하고 있다"고 주장했다.
터키는 지난 2007년 국부(國父)인 무스타파 케말 아타튀르크를 모독하는 영상을 올렸다며 처음으로 유튜브 접속을 금지했고 2008년부터 2010년까지 유튜브 접속을 차단한 바 있다.
터키 일간지 휴리예트는 이날 트위터가 터키에서 정치적 동기에 따라 기계적으로 만들어진 이른바 '봇(bot) 계정' 삭제에 착수했다고 보도했다.
프로그램이 기계적으로 생성하는 봇계정은 트위터에서 자동으로 글을 올리거나 팔로워 수를 늘려 영향력이 큰 것처럼 보이게 만들기 위해 사용하는 허위 계정이다.
다른 일간지 라디칼은 정의개발당이 소셜미디어에서 의제를 선점하고자 청년 6천명으로 구성된 대응팀을 구성했으며 에르도안 총리의 '정적'인 이슬람 사상가 페툴라 귤렌을 지지하는 단체도 봇계정을 만들었다고 보도했다. (연합)
<관련 영문 뉴스>
Turkey blocks Twitter after PM's threat to 'wipe out' service
Twitter went dark in Turkey late Thursday, just hours after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to "wipe out" the social network which, along with others, was highlighting corruption allegations against his inner circle.
The state-run Anatolia news agency said authorities "technically blocked access to Twitter" because the service had ignored various Turkish court orders to remove some links deemed illegal.
Twitter responded by saying on its official @policy feed that Turks could get around the block by tweeting through mobile telephone text services.
In early reaction, the EU commissioner for digital agenda, Neelie Kroes, tweeted that the block in Turkey "is groundless, pointless, cowardly".
She added that the "Turkish people and international community will see this as censorship. It is."
The restriction of access to Twitter came after Erdogan told a rally drumming up support for March 30 local elections that he would eradicate Twitter access in the country.
"We will wipe out Twitter. I don't care what the international community says," he said.
Erdogan's office said in a statement that Twitter had remained "indifferent" to Turkish court rulings demanding "some links" be removed, and that the premier therefore had turned his attention to the matter.
The website for the country's telecommunications authority (TIB) turned up four separate court rulings referencing "twitter.com".
One of them said: "The protection measure has been taken for this website (twitter.com) according to the decision... of the Istanbul chief public prosecutor's office and has been implemented by the TIB."
Anatolia ran a report saying a Twitter block was the only solution to "address the unjust treatment of our citizens".
- Graft allegations tweeted -
Erdogan, Turkey's charismatic and increasingly autocratic leader since 2003, has come under mounting pressure since audio recordings spread across social media that appeared to put him at the heart of a major corruption scandal.
Recordings include an apparent discussion between Erdogan and his son about hiding money, as well as others in which he appears to be interfering in business deals, court cases and media coverage.
Some of the most damaging information has come from a Twitter account under the name Haramzadeler ("Sons of Thieves"), which appears to have access to a huge trove of secret documents and police wiretaps linked to the investigation.
Erdogan has dismissed most of the recordings as "vile" fakes concocted by his rivals, and threatened to ban YouTube and Facebook after crucial local elections on March 30.
"This has nothing to do with freedoms. Freedom does not mean the right to intrude on someone's privacy, or to pass the state's secrets to the international arena," Erdogan said on Thursday.
The prime minister is openly suspicious of the Internet, and last year called Twitter a "menace" for helping organise mass anti-government protests.
A vast corruption probe launched in December saw dozens of people rounded up, including close business and political allies of the prime minister.
The Turkish strongman has accused associates of a former staunch ally -- US-exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen -- of being behind the graft probe that claimed the scalps of four ministers.
Gulen has denied any involvement.
Turkey recently tightened government control of the Internet and the judiciary, generating criticism from rights groups.
The country, which has more than 10 million Twitter users, has seen access to thousands of sites blocked in recent years.
YouTube was banned for two years up to 2010 because of material deemed insulting to the country's revered founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
The Internet Publishers Association, a body representing online and media companies, said the move to block Twitter was an attempt to "destroy freedom of expression".
"The prime minister having the power to shut down Twitter will be the confirmation of dictatorship," it said in a statement published by local media. (AFP)
