Turkey Restricts Access To Twitter After Prime Minister's Threat To Shut Down Social Media

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to shut down Twitter and other social media platforms after a court ruling on Thursday.

Hours later, the government had shut down access to Twitter in most parts of the country.

Erdogan said recently that Turkey could ban Facebook and YouTube, but the move was later ruled out.

Here's what one Twitter user says showed up for him when he tried to access the site:

RT @ikoker this is what I get when I try to access #twitter from #turkey without VPN/DNS/IP change etc pic.twitter.com/vOQM19iNQ7

- Yannis Koutsomitis (@YanniKouts) March 20, 2014

The message translates to: "This web page can not be used."

Erdogan's threats come in the middle of a corruption scandal he's battling, which he says his enemies have orchestrated and waged via leaks on Twitter and YouTube, according to Turkish daily news site Today's Zaman.

"Twitter, mwitter!," Erdogan said at a rally. The phrase translates roughly to "Twitter, schmitter."

According to Today's Zaman:

A statement published by the office of prime ministry later in on the day, clarified on Erdogan's remarks and said Turkish officials have no option other than ban Twitter as it ignored Turkish court rulings to remove some links that were shared on social media. The statement said Twitter ignored all warnings from Turkish authorities about court decisions upon complaints and requests of some Turkish citizens who became victims via Twitter posts. Turkey will do everything to not to allow its citizens become victims, the statement said.