Ankara Court Orders Lifting of YouTube Ban

A local court in Turkey has granted a "stay of execution" order to Turkish government's administrative decision to block popular video-sharing site YouTube.

YouTube was blocked on 27 March by Turkey's Telecommunications Authority (TIB) following the leak of a recording of a key high-level security meeting on Syria.

The decision by Ankara's 4th Administrative Court paves the way for a lifting of the ban on Google's video-sharing site.

If the TIB object to the court's ruling, YouTube is expected to make an individual complaint to the Constitutional Court.

Earlier last month, Turkish authorities defied court orders that ordered them to unblock YouTube.

The YouTube ban came just a week after the Turkish government banned Twitter. An Ankara court ruled access to be restored to the microblogging site, but the social network remained blocked until the country's Constitutional Court ruled that the Twitter ban was against Turkey's constitutional right to free speech.